Prepare to be counted, Colorado.
Once every 10 years, the U.S. government attempts to count every person living within its borders, and that immense effort is set for next spring.
Starting in February, the forms will begin appearing in mailboxes. Census Day is April 1, 2010. By law, the Census Bureau has to hand over the population counts to the president by Dec. 31, 2010.
Why is it so important that you fill out the simple 10-question form and return it quickly?
Promptly returning the completed questionnaire (which takes less than 10 minutes to do) means money in the bank for your community, and a tremendous amount of taxpayer money saved as well.
An accurate count means that the right amount of federal assistance available to cities and states gets doled out correctly.
In Denver, census officials say for every person not counted, the city will lose $826 a year for the next 10 years. That’s a lot of cash for a city trying to patch up a $160 million budget shortfall.
Turning in the census form quickly also means that less federal money is spent on follow-up visits and other efforts the government takes to count everyone.
The additional work it takes to collect forms from those who don’t participate in the first round costs as much as $70 per person. For every percentage-point increase in the response rate, the federal government saves $90 million.
“I’d like to give millions and millions of dollars back to the Treasury on Dec. 31,” Robert M. Groves, director of the Census Bureau, told us last week.
Taking part in the census count is everyone’s legal obligation. The count determines how many congressional representatives each state receives, and that equates to the number of electoral votes each state gets.
A pair of problems could challenge Colorado’s participation, and we hope cities and the state are eyeing ways to remedy them.
The number of people who have lost their homes due to foreclosure means that some families are living with relatives or friends.
Some may not want to admit they are living in such circumstances, but it’s important that they fill out the forms, as recovery efforts that can help those struggling with job loss and poverty depend on an accurate count.
A second challenge is Colorado’s sizable illegal immigrant population. The census form does not ask if you are a legal resident. It is important that residents who are here illegally understand this fact and partake in the count.
There’s a movement in some Hispanic circles to boycott the census. It’s a mistake, and only further hurts vulnerable populations.
The government cannot use the form to determine immigration status, but it needs to know the number of people living here to provide services appropriately.
To simplify the process, the Census Bureau has created a form that is only 10 questions long. You’ll be asked to provide the names of every person living in your residence, along with gender and race.
Taking 10 minutes out your life every 10 years isn’t asking a lot.
And the benefits are worthwhile.
So stand up and be counted.
