And yes, the town spent money doing this “census”.
While the mayor talks about the incredible growth of Faro, the results of Faro’s Municipal Census paint a different picture. While YG Statistics had Faro’s count of permanent residents at 453, the town’s municipal “census” came up with a count of 393. Oops.
As for the “shadow population”, the document did confirm that there are people in town who do not live here permanently and stay in guesthouses or corporate housing or in seasonal residences. I think we knew that already?
Who is our non-resident “shadow population”? Think of Parsons employees, temporary contractors and Faro’s CAO Larry Baran who has moved from Alberta to BC this year. Mayor Jack Bowers said in a CBC interview that they “are essentially getting a free ride.”
Of course property taxes and water bills (and often rent) for where these folks are staying is bringing money into the town so it’s not exactly a “free ride”, except in the case of our CAO who has shown his dedication to Faro by taking his “free ride” from Alberta to BC.
From the town’s document on the subject from April 15, 2024:
And the the inclusion of “Potential” is interesting. This is a “count” of people who don’t yet live here in units that are not yet habitable. 38 does seem like a rather conservative count of the number of people who do not live here.
On the other, hand the other guesstimates seem a bit high. The town has not released the raw data, so accuracy cannot be confirmed.
How many people live in Faro? Here’s a what the Yukon News had to say: Only the Shadow knows!
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