The Yuma City Council will consider whether to contract with the Census Bureau to conduct a special mid-decade count of the city’s population.

The $1.1 million it would cost to conduct the special count is worth the money because state revenues are tied to the number of people living in the city, said Bob Stull, deputy city administrator.

Officials say estimates of the city’s population don’t reflect the city’s growth.

“If we don’t have a good count and keep up with it, there is a tendency our share of the pie will get smaller,” Mr. Stull said. “The pie may be getting bigger because state revenues are up, so the pie may be bigger, but our percentage of that pie we want to try to keep that as high as we can.”

Yuma’s estimated population in 2004 was 83,000, according to the Census Bureau’s Web site.

The latest census figures showed a 2.3 percent increase in population from 2003 to 2004 for Yuma. The Arizona Department of Economic Security showed a 3.3 percent increase during the same period. City officials say the increase was too low.

The last time the city did a mid-decade census, it paid between $500,000 and $600,000.

“It made money for us last time,” Mr. Stull said. “Last time we paid for the census, it was enough higher than the (DES) estimate that our percentage of the state revenue for the next five years almost doubled for what we had to pay.”

Right now, using the 2004 state’s estimations, the city’s population percentage compared with the state’s population would go down, said city Finance Director Pat Wicks.

“It may still. We just want to mitigate the amount that it goes down,” he said. “It’s an attempt to keep state revenues here where we believe they are being generated.” —

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