[Southsider2k12]

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-an...89e779ef41.html

Five metropolitan areas across Indiana, including Michigan City-LaPorte, will retain that designation for at least another decade — along with the enhanced federal aid that comes with it — instead of being downgraded to micropolitan communities.

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently backed off a proposal to set 100,000 as the minimum population needed to be considered a metropolitan area, instead of 50,000 residents.

OMB officials favored the change because the nation's population has doubled since the metropolitan threshold was set in the 1950s, so it made sense to similarly double the minimum population required to qualify as a metropolitan area.

However, OMB said bipartisan opposition to the proposal, including by U.S. Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun, both Republicans from Indiana, spurred the agency to decide instead to keep the current 50,000 resident threshold for at least another 10 years.