With the 2020 Census set to begin in March of next year, Steve Hale, who serves as a Partnership Specialist for the Census in the southern part of Kansas, addressed Allen County Commissioners on Tuesday morning about the importance of accurate data.
Hale stressed that trusted voices within the communities of Allen County need to step up to the plate and get the word out about the importance of the Census. The count determines government funding for programs and the number of congressional seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.
What I have found out during my travels through Kansas is that there is a general distrust for the government. People dont want to participate, Hale said. Garden City, for example, with a heavy migrant population, with a lot of Hispanics and Latinos, there is a lot of concern about them getting an accurate count. Garden City is still upset about its counts from 2010. They were undercounted and they appealed their counts twice, to no avail. They saw it as lazy counting by the Census workers.
Hale said that many believe U.S. Census workers would drive by apartment complexes, mobile home parks and cul-de-sacs without stopping to knock on doors. However, he said that would change in 2020.
They will have cell phones and tablets, showing which doors they knock on, Hale said.
Much more than government funding is at stake with census numbers. Hale explained most chain restaurants look at census data to determine if an areas population will sustain a restaurant.
Using Garden City again as an example, Hale said its recorded population of 39,000 fell just below the 40,000 threshold for many franchises.
Census packets will begin going out for delivery on March 9. If there is no response by mid-May, Census workers will start knocking on doors.
Hale said it was crucial that each town set up Complete Count Committees, by getting the mayors, city administrators and school districts involved.
There will be 96 Census jobs available in Allen County that pay from $13 to $15 per hour. Hale said they are hoping to employ county residents to avoid having to bring people in. Allen County had fewer than 20 percent who did not respond initially in 2010.
Cole Herder, Humboldt city administrator, voiced his support for cooperation.
I am a big advocate of the census. It has to do with funding. We have had a decline in population in Allen County for 30 to 40 years and I keep thinking we are starting to level off. It irritates me when the federal government comes in every year and automatically takes off 100 people from your county. They do their statistics just by guess in the interim years, he said.
Hale said anyone who has lived in their town for at least six months needs to report that town or city as their home. This works for and against Iola, in particular. Allen Community College students who live in Iola for that extent of time should report Iola as their place of residence. However, parents of kids going and living at a college out of town, are urged not to put down the child on their census. Hale said the government has ways of cross-checking names that show up twice in the database.
COMMISSIONERS are looking to make some serious cuts to the 2020 budget after auditor Rodney Burns announced that it was $2.48 million over budget.
After realizing they had no choice, the road and bridge fund took the first hit. After four drafts of the budget, commissioners slashed its funds by $750,000, scheduled to build a new building for the department. Those talks have now been pushed at least two years out.
