The U.S. Census Bureau says the seaside mobile home town of Briny Breezes has precisely 800 homes. Everyone in town knows that’s wrong by several hundred.
Just walk down the street and count them: 484.
The bureau was much closer to the actual number in 2000, when it declared 534 mobile homes were in town.
So the Town Council has challenged the census count of housing. “We will be in touch with the University of Florida regarding the current census data,” Town Attorney Jerome Skrandel said at the Sept. 9 council meeting.
The school’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research keeps track of population, housing, sales and other trends on an annual basis. Based on such statistics as electrical connections and water and sewer hookups, the bureau keeps yearly tabs on Florida’s economic trends.
Skrandel also may tap the statistics from the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office to bolster the town’s claim.
“When they correct the housing units, they will also correct our population. We will use the new numbers for our comprehensive plan,” Skrandel said.
But fewer dwelling units likely will mean fewer people in town.
The town’s 601 official residents may shrink closer to a more likely 411, the number in the 2000 census. Officials found it hard to believe that Briny’s population jumped by 46.2 percent in 10 years.
“The census figure for population is related to the number of persons per household,” Skrandel said. “They didn’t actually count noses. They used a statistical approach.”
The population number is derived from multiplying the number of dwellings by the expected number of people per household, which varies from census parcel to parcel.
A lower population could cost the town a few dollars in revenue-sharing money from the state.
“I don’t know if it’s that significant an issue,” said Skrandel, suggesting that the difference in money based on 411 townspeople or 601 would be negligible.
In other business, conducted at meetings Sept. 9 and Sept. 22, the Town Council:
• Approved by a 4-0 vote an agreement “in principle” with Briny Breezes Inc. that would require the corporation to pay for 30 percent of the cost of fire-rescue service from Boynton Beach, 30 percent of the cost of police protection from Ocean Ridge and all of the cost of utility service from Boynton Beach. The one-year agreement was proposed by the corporation to solidify the ongoing practice. The corporation is expected to consider the contract at its November meeting.
• Agreed by a 4-0 vote to allow property-owners and shareholders, as well as residents, to be members of the planning and zoning board. The question was raised because two members of the board own property but do not live in town. Current law says that when the board sits as the local planning agency, members must be residents. The change will require an ordinance amendment. Ú
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