Small Town News

Census forms arrive in Wharton County

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The U.S. government sent all Wharton County residents a piece of mail this week, and it's a crime not to send it back.

Mailboxes across the county, like those across the nation, were stuffed with copies of the U.S. Census short form Monday. The form asks questions like how many people five at the address it was sent to and the ethnicity of whomever is living there.

From that data, the government will determine the makeup of populations of communities across the nation, a key point in deciding the level of federal aid, grants or other funding that a city, county or state may receive.

That's more than $400 billion federal dollars spent each year on infrastructure and other services including senior centers, job training centers, schools and emergency services. Census information also affects the numbers of seats a state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Participation isn't just important, it's mandatory, press releases from the U.S. Census say.

It's only 10 questions long. The 2010 Census asks the following questions:

1. The number of people living in the residence.

2. Any additional people that might be living there as of April 1, 2010.

3. Whether the residence is owned or rented.

4. Telephone number (in case the Census Bureau has follow-up questions).

5. Name.

6. Sex.

7. Age and date of birth.

8. Whether of Hispanic origin.

9. Race.

10. Whether the person sometimes lives somewhere else.

Those who refuse to answer questions will likely get a knock on their door from a Census worker.

The Census Bureau today estimated that if every household completed and mailed back their census form, taxpayers could reduce the cost of taking the census by $1.5 billion. The Census Bureau saves about $85 million in operational costs for every percentage point increase in the nation's participation rate by mail.

It costs the government 42 cents for a respondent to mail their answers back, but it costs about $57 to send a census taker to the door

All census responses are confidential: They are protected by law and not shared with anyone. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents' individually identifiable answers with anyone.

For more information, the government offers an interactive Web site at http:/12010.census.gov/2010census.



Copyright 2010 East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 East Bernard Express East Bernard, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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