Glenwood Post Independent Article: New website helps manage energy costs

The following is an excerpt from the Glenwood Post Independent highlighting a new website made possible in part through a DOLA grant.  The website tracks energy use for public facilities throughout Garfield County, helping them gauge their use and identify ways to save.

"Partners in the countywide Garfield Clean Energy program have adopted targets for increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy as a means to creating a stronger, more resilient economy.

Now, with the launch of a new website tool, governments in Garfield County can view the ongoing progress they are making toward reaching these goals within their government buildings, share this progress with the public, and identify ways to save additional energy and money.

Garfield Energy Navigator (www.garfieldenergynavigator.org) is a new website developed by CLEER, Clean Energy Economy for the Region, as part of the countywide Garfield Clean Energy program."

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Census Bureau Releases 2010 Counts for Smaller Areas

Today the Census Bureau released more detailed 2010 Census population totals and demographic characteristics for Colorado. These data provide the first look at population counts for small areas with race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data released from the 2010 Census.
These counts for Colorado show Colorado’s most populous counties are El Paso County (622,263), Denver (600,158), Arapahoe (572,003) and Jefferson (534,543).  El Paso moved up from the third most populous county in 2000 and Jefferson slipped to fourth most populous from second in 2000.
The counties with the largest increase in population were Douglas County gaining 109,699 people and El Paso County gaining 105,334.  Other counties with large increases in population include Arapahoe (83,107), Adams (77,746), and Weld (71,889).  Seventeen of Colorado’s 64 counties (26 percent) showed population declines.  The largest declines were in Prowers (-1,932), Otero (-1,480) and Huerfano (-1,151).
The counties that show the fastest growth in percentage terms are a little more diverse.  Douglas was again the fastest growing county in Colorado growing at 62.4 percent compared to the state as a whole growing by 16.92 percent.  Other fast growing counties include Weld (39.7 percent), Garfield (28.7 percent), Mesa (26.2 percent) and Eagle (25.3 percent).

The three largest cities remain Denver (600,158) followed by Colorado Springs (416,427), and Aurora (325,078) with Fort Collins (143,986) and Lakewood (142,980) rounding out the top 5.  The five municipalities to gain the most population were Colorado Springs (55,537), Aurora (48,685), Denver (45,522), Thornton (36,388) and Castle Rock (28,007).  The Denver metro cities of Wheat Ridge, Englewood, and Lakewood recorded population declines.

Fourteen municipalities doubled their size or more over the decade. Several municipalities in Northern Colorado were in the group of the fastest growing in the state: Firestone (431 percent), Severance (430 percent), Frederick (251 percent), Erie (188 percent) and Timnath (180 percent).

Colorado continues to become more ethnically and racially diverse.  Colorado’s Hispanic population (largest minority group) increased by over 300,000 or 41 percent during the decade compared to the total population which grew by 16 percent.  Blacks or African Americans grew by 19 percent, Asians by 45 percent, and White non-Hispanic by 9.9 percent. The increase in diversity occurred throughout the state, not just in the metro areas.  The largest increases in the minority population were in Arapahoe, Adams and El Paso.  However, large increases were also seen in the Eastern Plains counties of Yuma, Kit Carson, and Morgan and the Western Slope counties of Moffat, Garfield, Eagle and Mesa.

The official 2010 Census Redistricting Data Summary File can be used to redraw federal, state and local legislative districts under Public Law 94-171. The census data are used by state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts in their states, taking into account population shifts since the 2000 Census. To access the detailed data from the Census Bureau, visit their website at: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ or through the American Factfinder at: http://factfinder2.census.gov/main.html

The State Demography Office has also published the Census 2010 counts and comparisons from Census 2000 for counties and municipalities on its website.  http://dola.colorado.gov/dlg/demog/2010censusdata.html  If you need help accessing the data from the Census website or from the State Demography Office website please contact us at: 303-866-3190 or 303-866-3096.

Amercian Recovery & Reinvestment Act Outcome Report Now Available for the Community Services Block Grant Program

DOLA held a CSBG workshop in 2010

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided the Colorado Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Community Action Program (CAP) Network with $8,684,648 in additional funding for FY 2009 and 2010 CSBG programs.  The Colorado CAP Network, the forty (40) entities that administer the CSBG on the local level for all sixty-four (64) counties in Colorado, have worked diligently to ensure that CSBG Recovery Act funds provide critical services to those affected by the severe economic recession.  The State CSBG office and the Colorado CAP Network have committed to providing transparent, efficient, innovative and effective services with CSBG Recovery Act funds.

CSBG workshop participants

The Colorado CAP Network has proven to be a responsible steward of Recovery Act funds.  Despite an unprecedented amount of funding, need and responsibility, CAPs have collectively expended 99.6 percent of CSBG Recovery Act funds as of December 30, 2010.  The State CSBG office worked with local CAPs in creating and executing plans to spend CSBG Recovery Act funds responsibly, so that Coloradans in need could receive the help they deserve.

Read the report.

About DOLA's New Executive Director, Reeves Brown

Prior to his appointment by Governor Hickenlooper to serve as the Department of Local Affairs' Executive Director, Reeves Brown served as Executive Director of CLUB 20, a non-profit political advocacy organization representing the interests of the 22-county Western Colorado region.  Based in Grand Junction, Reeves has led the organization in cultivating dialogue amongst the region’s diverse interests to develop consensus recommendations for state and national public policies on a wide range of issues including public lands management, economic development, transportation funding, energy development, water management, education and health care. 

Reeves grew up on a cattle ranch in eastern Montana and later received a B.S. in Agriculture Business and a minor degree in Economics from Montana State University.  Having spent his formative years working in and around cow manure, Reeves believes that he is uniquely qualified to work in the public policy arena.

After working for the National Cattlemen’s Association for two years, Reeves served as Executive Vice President of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) from 1989-1997.  During his tenure, Reeves established the CCA as a nationally-recognized leader in the natural resource and animal care arenas.  Under Reeves’ leadership, the CCA created the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) in 1993 – the first land conservation trust in the nation fostered by an established agriculture organization.  The CCALT currently holds conservation easements on over 250,000 acres of agriculture land across Colorado, and has served as a catalyst for the creation of similar ag land trusts in other western states which now collectively hold conservation easements on over 1 million acres of agriculture lands.

Reeves and his wife, Penny, have three children – Kyler, Keaton and Abigail – a cat with an attitude and one genetically-challenged dog.

Reminder to local governments: time to submit budgets to DLG

Now that both the budget deadlines and holidays have passed, it is time for local governments to submit their adopted budgets to DLG.

There are resources on budgeting on our website at www.dola.colorado.gov/budgets.  There, you will find a checklist of the statutory requirements of budgeting to ensure that DLG receives all of the necessary documents and data.

Once all of your documents are compiled (either in paper, or hopefully, as PDF documents) there are two ways to get them to us. Our preferred option is by using our electronic filing method where you submit the PDF document of your budget (we have successfully received PDF documents upward of 800 pages) with the district name and Local Government Identification Number (LGID) included both in the name of the document itself, and in the email subject line.  The other option would be to mail a paper copy, however, in the interest of saving costs, time and preserving resources, we encourage using our electronic filing method.

There is a full list of instructions on our e‑filing page at www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing You are able to see our guidelines on naming your document, using PDF documents, and look up your LGID number on our budgeting website ‑ www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing.

Note: Please send only one government per email [e.g. XYZ Metropolitan District No.1 ‑ 6 need to send an individual email for each individual district ‑ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.], if there is a parent government that includes the budget of another local government [e.g. City of Biggsville includes the budget of the Biggsville Urban Renewal Authority or Local Improvement District, or other...] please note in the email that the budget of the other government/s is included (and include that local government's LGID as well).

Of course if you need of additional help, please contact Jarrod Biggs at 303.866.4493, jarrod.biggs@state.co.us or Cynthia Thayer at 303.866.5601, cynthia.thayer@state.co.us.
Contact information is also on the budgeting page.

US Census Bureau releases the 2010 counts for the US and its states

Today the US Census Bureau released the 2010 counts for the US and its states.

The count for the US was 308,745,538.  This represents a 27.3 million increase over the decade.  The change in percentage terms was 9.7 percent.

In percentage terms, this was the second slowest growing decade -- second to the decade of the 30s. In absolute terms however, the 27.3 million ranks third fastest behind the decade of the 90s and the 50s.

For Colorado, the population count came in at 5,029,196 which is a 727,915 or 16.92 percent increase since 2000 and ranks our state as no. nine in percentage change over the decade.

Colorado will not gain or lose a US congressional seat.  All other states being equal, we would have had to have a population count of approximately 5.309 million to get an eighth seat.

American Community Survey Estimates 5 – Year (2005-09) and Census 2010 data to be released in December 2010

American Community Survey Estimates 5 – Year (2005-09) and Census 2010 data to be released in December 2010.

As many of you are aware, the US Census Bureau will be releasing American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data on December 14th. This is the first time ACS data, characteristic information, has been made available for every county, city, town, and place, as well as for census tracts and block groups since the Census 2000 data was released in 2001.  The ACS has taken the place of the Decennial Census Long Form that asked the detailed social, economic, housing and demographic questions.

Also, the first Census 2010 state counts will be released December 21st to the President for reapportionment purposes.  It could be confusing that the two Census products are being released in the same month but it is fairly easy to learn how they are different and when to use each source.

The 2010 Census shows the number of people who live in the U.S. and the American Community Survey shows how people live.   Use data from the American Community Survey to obtain demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics.  Use numbers from the 2010 Census to obtain counts of the population and their basic characteristics (sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, and homeowner status). For more information on Census 2010 please visit Census 2010 Main

ACS 5-year Data 2005-09

What does this mean for you, the data user? When is it appropriate and beneficial for you to use this data? We’ve compiled the following list of FAQs to help you understand the 5-year data. If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our office: 303-866-3120 or barbara.mason@state.co.us or Elizabeth Garner at 303-866-3096 or Elizabeth.garner@state.co.us.

Q: Where do I find the ACS 5-year (2005-09) estimates?

A: The Census Bureau American Fact Finder site is the best place to start.   American Fact Finder.  From here, in the center area under “Getting Detailed Data”, select detailed data under the American Community Survey title, then select the ACS 5-year (2005-09).  A series of drop downs will help you to select your geography and variable.  You can also go to the American Community Survey website for more information and user guides.

Q: How accurate is the data?

A: The ACS is a survey, not a 100% enumeration (such as the 2010 Census, for example). Because only a percentage of the US population is actually surveyed, each data result has an associated Margin of Error (MOE). We encourage data users to consider the MOE and to take it into account when analyzing the 5-year data, as we do with all ACS products.

Q: How recent is the data?

A: The 5-year data being released in December 2010 was collected from 2005 through the end of 2009. This means that, of all the ACS data products, the 5-year data is the least current. As stated above, though, it’s the only ACS data available for the small geographies and populations.

Q: Can I use the ACS data to write a paper/report/article about recent economic, labor market and housing market changes?

A: No you cannot. Because the survey was conducted over such a long period of time, this data is not appropriate for analysis of recent trends, or for time-series analysis. We recommend the 1-year data for purposes of time-series analysis, and the most recent data.

Q: What is the data good for, then?

A: The 5-year data is a powerful and very useful tool for analysis of small areas- counties, towns and neighborhoods that previously only had access to new data every 10 years. It also allows us “wall-to-wall” data coverage across the state.

Q: How often will 5-year data be released?

A: All ACS products are released annually, on a rolling basis. For the 5-year data this means that in 2010 the 2005-2009 data will be released. In 2011, the 2006-2010 data will be released.

Q: What are other good resources for understanding the capabilities and limitations of the ACS 5-year data?

A: Start with the main American Community Survey web page and then click on the tab for “Guidance For Data Users”.  From this page there are several resources including an e-tutorial about the ACS and how to download and use the data.  There are also “Handbooks for Data Users” depending on your area of interest.  You can also contact our office for more information:  DLG.HelpDesk@state.co.us or Elizabeth Garner 303-866-3096 or Barb Mason 303-866-3120.