Census figures show Rogers City lost nearly 500 people in decade

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor The City of Rogers City can no longer claim to have a population of 3,000, or more. The news comes after the release of new census details March 22, which show the impact of decades of declining economic conditions. In the last 10 years, the city fell from 3,323 residents to 2,827 during the latest census count. It ranked as the 520th populous city in Michigan in 2000, but sunk to 622 in 2010, a decline of 15 percent. That marks about 496 residents who left. Only Moltke (15.9 percent) and North Allis (15.7) townships lost more people at a higher rate in the county.

?Am I happy? Heck no,? said mayor Beach Hall. ?Did I expect a little down turn? Sure, but not that size. And I?m not sure what the long range impacts are.? Hall believes a lot of the decline was not in the number of households, but in the number of kids per household. City manager Mark Slown said ?many of the city?s financial arrangements are connected with our population: state revenue sharing, grants, and many other various funding formulas.

?That is going to hurt the city,? he said. Slown added that it?s a trend, which has been going on for several decades. ?WE?VE LOST about that percentage of population, every decade, going back to the 1960s,? said Slown. ?I don?t think it is anything in particular to this decade, instead it?s more of a broad-based phenomenon, having to do with jobs, the state of the state, the state of the economy in northern Michigan, technology replacing jobs on the ships and in the quarry.?

Slown said the city has lost three jobs in as many years. ?We went from 28 employees to 25,? said Slown. ?We may lose more as time goes by in the future, and each job that is gone is two, three or four or more people, who, without a job a family can?t sustain itself.? Of the surrounding townships, Rogers saw a slight increase

of 37 people; however, Moltke lost 50. ?I would love to tell you I had a brilliant answer to replace it, but at the current moment all we can hope for is some entrepreneurs come to town and that they bring some young families with them. ?And I would like to think when we have a power plant announcement, that we might pick back up; however, it?s 10 years before they re-measure us.? ?We?ll do the best we can with what we have,? said Slown ?and continue to try and make the community better for the people who do choose to live here. At some point, maybe more people will realize what a great place it is to live.?

Presque Isle Township was the second most populous area in the county at 1,656, which was down only a few percentage points. Rounding at the top five are Rogers, 984; Allis, 948; and Case, 903. The city of Onaway lost 10.8 percent of its population going from 987 to 880, while Posen Township slipped from 959 to 850. Krakow had the biggest increase in the county at 13.3 percent, or about 83 people. County clerk said once she?s received the new census figures form the secretary of state she would call a meeting of the apportionment committee to redraw district lines. The committee will consist of the clerk, prosecutor, treasurer, as well as chairs of the county?s Republican and Democratic parties.

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