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Mayors Not Concerned by Population Decrease

New numbers from last year's Census shows Oxford County is starting to fall behind in population growth. While Canada grew at a rate of 5.9 per cent from 2006 to 2011, three local municipalities actually lost more residents than they gained over that period. South-West-Oxford (-0.6%), Zorra (-0.8%), and East-Zorra-Tavistock (-2.3%) now have fewer people. But SWOX Mayor David Mayberry says that's not entirely unexpected. "The reality is, we're seeing continually smaller families, and that's maybe more-so true with farm families than it used to be." The Mayors say they're not overly concerned, as new homes have been built in their townships this past year, boosting tax flows. There's just fewer people living in those homes. EZT's Don McKay tells Heart FM "The business that we're in of local government is based on property assessment, so as long as the property is still there...how many that are in it isn't as much of a concern." McKay says where the lower population is making an impact is in the school system, where several County schools have been closed over the past few years.

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