Airdrie is a fast growing city.  How much growth it's had in the last year will start being calculated tomorrow (April 1) with the start of the annual census.  

Kari Kitiuk is the Team Leader of Legislative Services for the city.  She explains how the census will be conducted.  "Similar to past years," says Kitiuk.  "It will start with a PIN (number) being delivered to every dwelling in Airdrie.  We'll wait for a certain period for our residents to respond online.  After that waiting period, a second PIN will be delivered as a reminder to residents and another waiting period for them to respond online.  Then our census workers will go out door to door for those who haven't responded."

Kitiuk says people have about three and a half weeks to respond online before the enumerators start doing their work on April 25th.  The census will come to a conclusion on May 16th, although Kitiuk says they'll still likely have to reach out to residents who haven't responded following that.  The city has until June 30th  to finish the census.

According to Kitiuk, filling the census out online is by far the way Airdronians prefer to do it.  Last year, a record 73 percent of residents did the census online.

The census includes collecting the standard information on the number of people living in Airdrie, their age and gender as well as some information about dwelling status that are on it every year.  This year though, Kitiuk says the city is helping out Rocky View Schools by asking for information for school planning by asking you to provide the year of birth for any child in your home who is under four.  Another question on this year's census will be about what method of transportation you take to work in Airdrie.

The City of Airdrie doesn't conduct a yearly census because they're being nosy.  It's very important to get every person in the city counted since it's the population count that leads to provincial money for the city.  "This year, we're expecting that we'll receive approximately $325 per capita," says Kitiuk.  "It's used for infrastructure, social programs, policing.  We also get a lump sum from the government and part of that is based on per capita, not all of it."

That's why everyone should plan to count themselves in when the census launches tomorrow.  "Absolutely," Kitiuk says.  "We want to maximize our grant funding and also use the information we get to help improve the city services."

The 2018 census pegged Airdrie's population at 68,091, a 4.88 percent increase over the previous year.  

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