Kankakee City Council members are expressing their displeasure in the U.S. Census count. And plans are to seek a re-count after government numbers, released last week, show a decline in population of more than 12 percent.

The drop in numbers could adversely affect federal funding and the city’s Home Rule status could be eliminated --- the Home Rule is for those municipalities with populations over 25,000.

The Daily-Journal reports Mayor Chris Curtis and some aldermen believe the Census count is not accurate.

According to U.S. Census figures released late last week, Kankakee lost 12.6 percent of its population. The census report stated Kankakee’s population dropped from 27,537 in 2010 to 24,052 in 2020.

Kankakee County’s population also dropped from 113,449 in 2010 to 107,502 in 2020, a 5.2 percent decline.

Mayor Curtis said the population count decline hurts funding but the Home Rule status also doesn’t allow action on things like increasing a sales tax or imposing local fees. The mayor said he fully expects a challenge to the Census numbers.

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