City employees say special census fell short; state legislation may provide alternative population updates

City staff briefed the committee on a special census effort that staff said failed to reach sufficient response levels for certification. City staff and the assistant city administrator described broad outreach — mailers, door-to-door canvassing and in-person events — but said mail response rates were low and online responses were stronger. Vernon Girth, assistant city administrator, and other staff said they made multiple outreach attempts but still fell short of achieving the updated count.

Staff reported that state legislators are considering a bill to have the Boyd Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, produce annual population analyses that could be used for revenue-allocation calculations instead of requiring every municipality to run its own special census. “The state legislature is looking at a bill now that provides for the Boyd Economic Center ... to do that analysis annually,” Girth said; he and other staff described such a change as potentially cost‑saving and more reliable given modern data sources.

Staff said the special census effort included part‑time workers doing door-to-door collection, targeted mailings, and in-person outreach at retail and apartment complexes. They said two mailings were sent to non-responders and that staff tracked responses on a dashboard. Despite those efforts, officials described the result as disappointing and signaled support for the legislative approach.

Ending: Staff recommended monitoring the proposed state legislation as a more sustainable method for periodic population updates that affect shared-revenue calculations and said they will return with updates if the legislative approach is enacted or if another special census is pursued.