Sheridan reaches milestone through census appeal

SHERIDAN, Ark. – Sheridan has hit a major milestone thanks to a recent census appeal that should bring new funds to the city.

Even before Sheridan Mayor Cain Nattin took office at the start of 2023, an effort was underway to repeal the 2020 census which counted Sheridan at 4,920 people.

“It’s not just a bedroom community anymore, and we knew we were over 5,000,” Nattin said. “Just some of the numbers weren’t adding up.”

It took until November for the state to revise the population to 5,011, and because of the change the town is now getting thousands more dollars in state funding each month.

Nattin said one reason they didn’t reach the 5,000 number in the census is because there were entire subdivisions that the city recognized as a part of Sheridan but the state did not.

Karen Beatty has lived on the previously uncounted Williams Way for years and said being uncounted shocked her.

“Heads up, little towns in Arkansas. You may want to check that out,” Beatty said.

Working with State Geographical Information System Offices, Sheridan reviewed ordinances dating back to the 1980s to ensure their annexations matched what the county and state recorded. Seven annexations across 40 Sheridan addresses and over 100,000 acres were previously uncounted and corrected by the appeal.

Resolving the differences is how an extra 91 people were accounted for, raising the census population from 4,920 to 5,011.

Breaking the 5,000 mark resulted in an extra $3,000 a month from the state for road improvement projects. Other benefits are less tangible.

“Sometimes 5,000 is the difference between getting a new business or a new restaurant, and we welcome any of that,” Beatty said.

That uncounted street she lives on is the target of one of about 10 road improvement projects the city of Sheridan hopes to accomplish within the next four years.

“They’re not doing another census until 2030, so it matters,” Nattin said.

The state’s $3,000-a-month contribution will add up to $200,000 by 2030, at least funding a couple of those projects.

The city of Sheridan did ask if they could get any of the money back that they missed dating back to the 2020 census, and they were told no.

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