The city is one of four Utah County locales that have successfully challenged population estimates released by the U.S. Census in June.

Instead of losing 3,700 people, American Fork has gained 100.

The difference will mean more state tax dollars and road repair funds for the city. State tax officials use census estimates to determine the amount of sales tax collections to send to each city.

The other cities who won their unofficial census challenges are Salem, which gained 800 residents; Elk Ridge, 300 people, and Mapleton, 1,000 people. The state is now awaiting a letter from the Census Bureau to make the challenges official.

Provo, South Jordan and Syracuse also are actively disputing their estimates.

American Fork Mayor Heber Thompson said he wanted to "make sure the population is accurately reflected," though he wasn't intimately involved in the challenge.

That fell to Shawn Eliot, a regional planner from the Mountainland Association of Governments, which works with Summit, Utah and Wasatch counties. Eliot has followed Utah County's consistent problems with census estimates and helps cities navigate the bureaucratic processes.

Last year, he helped 10 Utah County cities win census challenges, the biggest being Provo. Provo saw its estimate jump from just below 100,000 to 112,000.

This year Provo is estimated to have 113,500 people, which Eliot believes is about 1,500 people short.

State demographers say Utah County's high student populations usually result in volatile population estimates because of the way the census uses tax data to track people.

Eliot said many of the cities that challenged previously have much more accurate estimates.

"They are getting them pretty close this time," he said.

He expects to receive the results on Provo's challenge either late this week or early next week.

mcanham@sltrib.com