West Jordan is getting ready to celebrate its population topping 100,000 with a two-day extravaganza in August, but the U.S. Census Bureau announced this week its official estimate puts the guest list at a mere 94,309 - not enough for a first-class party to debut the state's newest first-class city.

Not about to take off its party hat, West Jordan is challenging the census number - and continuing plans for the gala, which is expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"We're sure we're way beyond [the census estimate]," said West Jordan Mayor David Newton. "We would like to have the community know West Jordan is not a small farming town anymore. We're a big city . . . and we have an awful lot to offer."

Community Development Director Tom Burdett plans to submit the city's challenge before the end of July. A response from the Census Bureau probably would come a month or two later.

West Jordan's numbers put the city's population on July 1, 2006 - the date used in this week's census estimate - at 101,291. Today, the city calculates the population at 102,620.

Burdett believes his department's numbers, based on housing stock added to the city, are more accurate than the census estimates, which extrapolate counts from national data. But the Lieutenant Governor's Office typically waits on census numbers to issue cities their first-class certificates.

Having 100,000 people - and the accompanying first-class rank - affords cities better federal funding opportunities, more money from tax revenues shared by the state and a little more oomph at the Legislature.

"It's a pride sort of thing more than anything else," said West Jordan Assistant City Manager Tom Steele. Being a "second-class city" doesn't have the same cachet, he said.

Currently, only Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo and Sandy are recognized as first-class. But Sandy has yet to reach 100,000 people. West Jordan already has knocked Sandy out of its position as the state's fourth-largest municipality.

In 1999, official state estimates - which can be used to determine municipal class when a Census estimate is not available - pegged Sandy at 102,000. But the 2000 Census revealed the city's population to be barely 88,000. (A challenge later adjusted the number up to 88,983.)

Sandy does not plan to object to the recent Census estimate, which put the city's population at 94,203. By law, the City Council would have to petition the Lieutenant Governor's Office if it wanted to revert to a second-class city.

"I don't see why we'd ever want to do that," said Assistant Community Development Director Nick Duerksen. "Once you're awarded [first class], you have it."

rwinters@sltrib.com