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Census forms in the mail
In Thursday, March 4, 2010 issue
The counting is now underway to determine the number of individuals residing in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau began the official count March 1 and began mailing census forms to households across the country and should arrive during this week.
The Census not only determines the U.S. population, but breaks down the numbers in each state, county and municipality everywhere.
The importance of the count cannot be understated, as billions of federal dollars are at stake in determining where that money winds up, who will get their share and how much, depending on each state and individual county’s needs.
Over the past several months, the Census Bureau has been recruiting part-time employees to do the paper work and leg work in actually making sure everyone residing in each county, state and the nation is counted.
The U.S. Census is taken nationwide each ten years, each even year.
The Census forms that the majority of households nationwide will be receiving this week asks only 10 questions and does not intrude as far as personal information about any individual or family. Everyone who receives the form is asked to take a few minutes to fill out the questions and return it by mail.
Dale Turner of the regional U.S. Census office says the forms are short--ten questions--and it only takes about ten minutes to fill out. “This is just a head count,” he said.
Many people worry about providing personal information, but that is not the purpose of the Census. Basically, the questionnaire seeks information about who you are, how many people live at your residence and how they are related to you, as well as some basic ethnic and gender questions.
No type of personal information, such as banking information, social security, credit card, or income will be sought.
Turner noted that most of the leg work had been completed as of last week and the forms were ready to be mailed out this week. Some forms in some locations may be hand delivered, he noted.
There are two main reasons why answering the Census questions are important.
The first is that Census numbers are used for funding formulas to determine where about $400 billion in federal dollars will be allocated. If you drive on roads or use a county health department, then money generated by that funding formula helped you do that.
The second reason is political representation.
Census numbers are used to determine the number of congressional seats in a state.
Turner noted that in the 1990 census, Kentucky lost a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives because the population numbers were down.
The Census uses a reference date of April 1. That is the date used to determine who is living in the household. For example, if a baby is due, then if the baby is born before April 1, he or she would become part of the Census count.
If Census forms are not returned, a Census worker will come to a residence to try to get the information for the county. And, they will come back more than once, if necessary. “We want to count everyone,” said Turner.
In 2008, Kentucky’s population was 4,269,425, up from about 225,00 new residents since the 2000 Census figures were released ten years ago.
Locally, the City of Albany’s population in 2000 stood at 2,220 residents and is likely to have increased over the past decade.
Clinton County, however, saw a decrease in the number of residents living in its border over an eight-year period. In 2000, when the last Census figures were released, the county had a population of 9,634 people living here. In 2008, that number had actually decreased by 66, or 0.6 percent, to 9,568.
Citing the numbers from the county population from 2000 to 2008, it makes it even more important that in 2010 all persons residing in the county be counted, so, everyone is asked to fill out and mail in their U.S. Census forms in the coming days and weeks.
Final results of the Census that is currently being taken for this first decade of the century will be tabulated and released sometime late this year.
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