City’s new ward lines now official

LACONIA — Changes to ward boundary lines are now official, following a vote by the City Council.

The council voted 6-0 Monday to authorize the changes which were required in order to equalize the population in each of the city’s six wards.

The changes reflect an increase in the city’s population of more than 900 people in the past 10 years, and the shifts in populations among the six wards.

The biggest boundary changes are in Wards 1, 3, and 6.

With the city’s population at 16,872, according to the 2020 Census, ward boundaries were shifted in order to arrive at a population of 2,812 in each ward within a margin of plus or minus 2.5%.

Normally the ward boundaries would be approved by the voters. But because the release of the 2020 Census results was delayed several weeks because of the COVID pandemic there was insufficient time to draw up the necessary referendum language for the municipal election on Nov. 2. Instead, voters approved — by a 3-to-1 margin — a ballot question giving the City Council the authority to set the new ward boundaries.

The new boundary lines were released in late October, prior to the election, so that voters were aware of what changes were being proposed when they went to vote.