Township Demographer Says U.S. Census Count Falls Short by About 1,600

The federal Census Bureau's published count of 26,652 residents in Bernards Township as of April 2010 fell about 1,600 residents short, primarily because the census failed to count about 240 households with Far Hills addresses, the township's demographer told the Township Committee on Tuesday night.

An undercount on census figures would affect such issues as whether the township qualifies for another local liquor license, eligibility for grant money and other governmentally regulated criteria, township officials said.

Mayor John Malay said William Draper, a township retiree who is a volunteer demographer, had been asked to look more closely at the numbers since the appeared to be on the low side.

On Wednesday, Malay said that his initial impression was that the numbers were low because of errors or misunderstandings. For example, he said he believed the township's Asian population may have been undercounted because some residents new to this country may not have understood the process. He said other errors may resulted from uncertainty of whether to count college students who are legal residents but living away from home on the official date for the count, which was last April 1.

But, speaking before the Township Committee, Draper said the obvious omission that aligns with the estimated population that he counts in Bernards Township — somewhat over 28,200 — is what he said is the failure to count most of households with a 07931 Far Hills area code. He said that was the main reason for what he says is an undercount, even though he said that other reasons, including errors and the incorrect count of Asian residents, also contributed.

Draper said the "lost" households did not appear to be added to the official population of the borough of Far Hills.

However, he told township officials that the paperwork on which official census counts are based are confidential. Draper said there is a lengthy process for filing information with the Census Bureau that would dispute the official numbers released in early February. The released census said that the township had added another 2,077 residents since the previous count of 24,575 in the 2000 census.

Draper said he keeps his own record of the number of households in Bernards Township through checking official tax record. He said the Census Bureau's count of households, 10,103, would be nearly exact his count of 10,343 if households with the Far Hills addresses were added into the federal census figure.

Malay on Wednesday said that Draper's figures are "dead on" when calculating the discrepancy by removing township properties with a Far Hills zip code from the census figure for households in Bernards.

The Township Committee directed Township Administrator Bruce McArthur to work with Draper to prepare a filing that would document the apparent discrepancy.

For starters, Draper and other township officials said Bernards would be eligible to issue an additional liquor license if the official numbers are brought up to the level that Draper says are correct.