Linn Auditor finds populations in Cedar Rapids council districts are out of whack

CEDAR RAPIDS - Joel Miller, Linn County auditor and commissioner of elections, has mined the new 2010 census figures and found that the current map that carves Cedar Rapids into five City Council districts with relatively similar populations is now out of whack.

Miller's digging also sheds a first light on what the Flood of 2008 did to the city's population, particularly so in council District 3 - which straddles the Cedar River and includes the flood-hit areas of Czech Village, Rompot, The Flats, Oak Hill, Taylor School and a little sliver of Time Check.

“You lost (the population equivalent) of the city of Robins from Cedar Rapids District 3,” Miller said Friday. “Obviously, something happened down there.”

The city's population estimate used in early 2005 in drawing up the city's council-district map - which included annexations since the 2000 Census - put 23,616 people in the area that became council District 3 when voters that year agreed to a new city government with nine part-time council members, five elected in council districts.

The 2010 Census counted 20,370 people in District 3, a loss of 10 percent of the district's population from the estimate of 2005.

Overall, Cedar Rapids' population grew 4.6 percent in the decade, from 120,758 to 126,326, and 3.9 percent from the population figure of 121,628 used in 2005 to create the city's current council district maps.

The city's growth occurred most dramatically in southwest Cedar Rapids in an area that comprises nearly all of council District 5. In 2005, District 5 was estimated to have 24,720 people; in 2010, 30,975, an increase of 6,255 people or 25.3 percent.

The city's population remained nearly the same in council District 1 in northeast Cedar Rapids west of Council Street NE, up just 187 people from 24,603 to 24,790 or 0.76 percent. The same was true in District 4 in northwest Cedar Rapids, which includes the flood-hit Time Check Neighborhood, where population edged up by 149 from 23,889 to 24,038 or 0.62 percent. In District 2 in northeast and southeast Cedar Rapids, the population grew by 1,358 from 24,800 to 26,152 or 5.5 percent.

The upshot: The City Council will need to redraw the boundaries of its five council districts so there is what Linn County's Miller says is a “reasonable” deviation in population among them.

However, by state law, the new district lines won't be applicable until Jan. 15, 2012, after the November city elections, Miller reported.

This November, three of the nine council seats are up for a vote, one of the at-large seats as well as the District 2 and District 4 seats.

Miller noted that the perfect Cedar Rapids map based on population numbers used in 2005 would have included 24,326 people in each of the five council districts. In drawing up maps, the districts must be as concise as possible, not include islands or odd boundaries and not cut through any of the 47 existing voting precincts in Cedar Rapids, Miller explained.

In the map created in 2005, District 3's population was the farthest from the ideal among the five districts with 710 fewer people than the ideal or what Miller called a 2.92 percent deviation.

With the 2010 Census figures, the ideal map would have 25,265 residents per council district, and Miller noted that District 3 as now drawn has 4,895 fewer people than that or a 19.4 percent deviation from the ideal while District 5 has 5,710 more than the ideal, a 22.6 percent deviation.

“Obviously, the map has got to change,” Miller said. “These numbers show how out of whack it is.”

Mayor Ron Corbett said Friday the city likely will ask Miller to help the city draw a new council-district map as the council had his predecessor, Linda Langenberg, do back in 2005.

Miller said he likely would offer the council four choices from which to pick with the option to create additional maps if the council isn't happy with any of the first four.

Miller also said the city of Marion's ward map will need to change as will the Linn County Board of Supervisors' district map. The ideal Linn County district would have 44,245 people, and District 1 now has a population of 35,412 - a 20 percent deviation from the ideal - while District 2 has 41,428 people, District 3, 40,093, District 4, 48,161 and District 5, 46,132.