LA VILLA - The census ticker is counting down the days to April 1, 2020 Census day.

It seems it's still a long way to go, but verifying where people live is time consuming and important.

Officially, the city of La Villa is home to about 2,700.

After the 2020 count, they're expecting to be somewhere around 4,000.

Right on track to outgrow their water plant.

That's why city operations manager David Alaniz says the census is key.

"It's very important for us. It's like money in the bank for one of our funds, or allocations or to help the water, sewer, even the police department”, says Alaniz.

Population size, determined by the census, is used to allocate billions of state and federal dollars into communities across the U.S.

They're hoping with a more accurate population count they can score 50% more funding, and qualify for larger grants.

Many local officials are stressing how important it is to count every resident in Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr counties, so the Valley can receive the federal funds it needs.

Watch the video for the full story.