May. 5, 2006 12:00 AM

The city of Maricopa's rate of growth may not have met city officials' supercharged expectations, but the zooming city has more than tripled its population in less than two years.

The results of a special U.S. Census released this week showed the 2 1/2-year-old community had 15,934 people and 7,597 homes as of Dec. 31. That is a 219 percent surge since March 2004, when a special census put the population at 4,998.

"This affirms what we've been saying about explosive growth," City Manager Rick Buss said.

Without the special census, Maricopa would be stuck until the next regular census in 2010 using a state population estimate of 9,790 to determine its portion of state-shared revenue, said Arizona Economic Security Department officials.

The census cost the city $200,000, but city finance director Roger Kolman estimated that the city will get an extra $14 million in state-shared revenues over the next five years."It's a major impact for us," Buss said.

But even the new numbers already lag behind the city's fast growth. City officials said Maricopa's population is probably now closer to 21,000, based on building and construction reports. At least 35,000 new homes are in various stages of development, Buss said. Projections call for the city to push close to 100,000 in about five years.

The way the state calculates shared revenues puts many small but rapidly growing cities such as Maricopa at a disadvantage because the state doesn't update population figures annually for state-shared revenue funds. The state sets new population counts every five years.