7 Cities Hail Census Undercount, Await More Funding : Population: Post Enumeration Survey gives seven county communities modest to strong gains.

The Census Bureau’s acknowledgement this week that the 1990 survey was about 5 million people short was good news in several Orange County cities which were undercounted by thousands.

“Oh, my gosh, this is shocking news to us,” said Debbie Fank, a “numbers cruncher” in the planning department in Anaheim, which got an extra 21,600 people under the bureau’s new count. “That’s quite a jump, and obviously it will give us more money.”

The new Post Enumeration Survey, which includes people believed to have been missed in the census, shows that Santa Ana, for example, has 16,258 more people than originally thought.

Large cities across the country have objected to the undercounts. A lawsuit filed against the bureau by numerous cities, including Los Angeles, still aims at forcing the bureau to use post-enumeration results to update 1990 census data.

The city of Inglewood had a 10.9% undercount, the nation’s highest. The second highest undercount--at 6.5%-- came from Moreno Valley. Santa Ana, Los Angeles and Washington followed with undercounts just above 5%.

All of the other six Orange County cities of more than 100,000 people listed by the Census Bureau had modest to strong gains in population from the figures released last year. If the upward revisions are accepted next month, that means those cities will be eligible for more state and federal funding under programs that are calculated by population.

Huntington Beach got an extra 2,500 people, or 1.3%, under the new estimates, but officials there protest that their city is still undercounted.

In Santa Ana, census coordinator Lorraine Lazarine called the new numbers “terrific” and said the city’s 5.2% gain was the result of officials there having double-checked their own occupancy records and finding 14 undercounted downtown buildings.

In his city at least, Fullerton associate planner Ken Bane estimated that the revisions will mean about an extra $128,000 in state and federal funds.

But officials in Huntington Beach still are dissatisfied and said they are considering whether to pay for a special census. A decision could come next month.

“We believe the city’s actual population is between 191,000 and 196,000,” said Huntington Beach City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga.

The original count put the city at 181,519, the revise at 184,000.

Revised 1990 Census Figures

For Orange County cities of more than 100,000 people:

City Original Revised Increase Santa Ana 293,742 310,000 5.2% Anaheim 266,406 278,000 4.2% Fullerton 114,144 117,000 2.4% Orange 110,658 113,000 2.1% Garden Grove 143,050 146,000 2.0% Irvine 110,330 112,000 1.5% Huntington Beach 181,519 184,000 1.3%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau