Louisiana municipality list pushes Berwick closer to city status

A long-sought goal, to be recognized as a city rather than a town, appears to be within reach after the Louisiana Municipal Association's recently published directory listed Berwick's population over the 5,000 legal threshold.

Now, Mayor Duval Arthur said, Berwick is waiting for Gov. John Bel Edwards' approval of the move up to city status. That step, plus the recognition that Berwick's population is greater than the 2020 Census indicated, would mean a bigger share of sales tax proceeds and grants, Arthur said.

There's also a matter of town pride. Make that city pride.

"Berwick has been a town since 1907," Arthur said. "I think it's time we became a city."

Under Louisiana law, municipalities with a population of less than 1,000 are classified as villages. If they have populations of 1,000-4,999, they're towns. Cities have populations of at least 5,000.

The 2010 Census put Berwick's population at 4,946 -- 54 people short of the city threshold.

"That was one of the things I wanted when I became mayor," said Arthur, who was elected in 2018.

But the notoriously troubled 2020 Census was a disappointment. The federal head count, hampered by legal challenges and the COVID pandemic, put Berwick's population at 4,771, down 3.5% from 2010.

Arthur was having none of it. And factors such as utility hook-ups were on his side. So were estimates by the Louisiana Treasurer's Office and the LSU Economics Department, which put the population over 5,000.

Arthur filed an official challenge to the 2020 Census result March 30, 2022. So far, the only result is that he has a phone number to call. It invites him to leave a recorded message.

Closer to home, a more populous Berwick developed more quickly.

Arthur said that a couple of weeks ago, a member of the newly formed Atchafalaya Intracoastal Coalition congratulated him because Berwick's population is now over 5,000. The mayor wasn't sure what he meant.

Then came the publication of the Municipal Association directory. And there it was, under the Berwick header: "Population 5,128."

That was the good part. The bad part was that the directory still lists Berwick as a town. Arthur has been assured that it will be corrected.

Arthur announced the association's new population figure for Berwick at an April 19 Chamber luncheon in Morgan City.

"When all this happened, I was surprised," Arthur said. "I'm going to run with it."