By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Commissioners Court has adopted the results of the 2020 Census, although at least two of its members say the population totals for the county are too low.
The court discussed the 2020 Census during its regular meeting Tuesday.
The 2020 Census figures presented to the court show a total Val Verde County population of 47,586.
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton made a motion to approve the resolution adopting the 2020 Census.
“The numbers are the numbers. I may not agree with them, but the numbers are the numbers,” Nettleton said.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores gave the second.
“I think the numbers are not right, as least as far as my precinct is concerned. I can’t speak for everybody else, but somewhere in this process, we missed a whole lot of people, in my opinion. I understand COVID was going on, and those things were happening. The problem is that it’s so imperative that we get our numbers right because it deals with finances. It deals with future grants. It deals with all the things that make this county function,” Nettleton said.
The court unanimously approved the motion.
In an interview in mid-September, Owens voiced his own concerns about the 2020 Census results.
“The numbers were very surprising to me. I think they’re too low. We were dealing with the pandemic (during the census year),” Owens said, adding he believed the federal government should have postponed the census for at least a year because of the pandemic.
“When you see the amount of growth we’ve had in (Val Verde County) Precinct 3, and these numbers that have come out, they don’t reflect that growth,” Owens added.
The judge said he believes the total number of Val Verde County residents is easily over 50,000 persons.
“Again, you have 800 acres that were subdivided in Lake Ridge, over 800 acres. You’ve had six or seven subdivisions that have been done in Precinct 3. That’s where most of the growth has been, so the numbers, in my opinion, do not reflect that growth, but yet we’re fixing to do something that’s going to affect us, with our grants, with the money that we receive. It’s going to affect us for another 10 years, and we’re going to redistrict, based on numbers that I believed are flawed,” Owens said.
Asked if there were any legal remedies the court could pursue or if it would have to wait 10 years for the 2030 Census.
“We have to wait 10 years,” the judge said.
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