LEBANON, Tenn. - More and more businesses have been opening their doors in Wilson County and with that comes plenty of new residents moving in.
The city of Lebanon said despite the rapid growth it's not getting the state funding to match.
Now the city has a plan to change that.
The amount of state funding the city gets has been determined by the census.
That's only conducted every ten years, and just five years after the last one there has been a lot of growth in Lebanon.
In 2010, the US Census said the city of Lebanon had just over 26,000 people.
Mayor Philip Craighead said since then there have been 2,000 residential building permits filed. He believed that equates to at least 5,000 new people, and roughly a half-million dollars of extra state funding.
So starting next week Lebanon has planned to do its own census.
"This is one way of finding other revenues and sources so we don't have to look at raising any sort of taxes," Craighead said. "This is our money. All we have to do is show the numbers and present them to the state to receive these dollars."
The city will have a website, countlebanon.com, online by Wednesday where residents can fill out their information.
There will also be fliers attached to everyone's garbage can.
Craighead said if the city still hasn't heard from someone within a few months they'll send people door to door.
Altogether Craighead said this census should take about six months.
