Blaine County in pace with Idaho’s growth
Hispanics numbers increase
411 percent
By PAT MURPHY
Express Correspondent
Blaine County is on the move upward on the growth charts.
Idaho statistics released last week by the Bureau of the
U.S. Bureau of the Census shows Blaine moving from the 20th
largest county in Idaho to the ninth largest over the past decade.
Blaine County’s population leaped 40 percent from 13,552
in 1990 to 18,991 in 2000 ¾ the sixth fastest growth among Idaho
counties.
One of the largest and fastest growth rates in Blaine
County was among Hispanics. Only one other Idaho county reported a faster
and larger growth in its Hispanic population than Blaine County.
Blaine County’s Hispanic population growth from 397 in
1990 to 2.030 in 2000 was an increase of 411 percent, outstripped only by
neighboring Camas County’s 1,275 percent of Hispanics from 4 in 1990 to
51 in 2000.
For Idaho as a whole, Hispanics now represent 8 percent of
the state’s population with 101,690.
Among Blaine County cities, the big story is Hailey, whose
blistering growth rate of 73.4 percent ¾ from 3,575 residents in 1990 to
6,200 in 2000 ¾ made it the county’s fastest growing community.
Hailey Mayor Brad Siemer said that "although these
numbers are almost intimidating, it’s not the growth rate that’s put
so much pressure on city services as much as the type and
sophistication" of developments."
Growth of other cities in the county was a robust 50
percent for Sun Valley (from 938 to 1,427); 47 percent for Bellevue (from
1,275 to 1,876); 20 percent for Carey (from 427 to 513), and 19 percent
for Ketchum (from 2,523 to 3,003).
Up the road from Blaine County in Custer County’s
Stanley, a 41 percent growth rate (from 71 to 100) puts to rest the image
of a town standing still.
Growth has worked a hardship on the Blaine County Sheriff’s
Office. Chief deputy Sheriff Gene Ramsey says the spending for overtime
increased 25 percent over last year, and county jail prisoners have been
moved to Burley because of a lack of space.
Ramsey said the county needed a new jail five years ago,
but a bond issue for a new facility failed.
Ketchum realtor Dick Fenton said another measure of growth
has been real estate sales—$310 million sold in the county in 2000
compared to $186 million in 1990.