Census response rate increases

Barb Kromphardt
April 5, 2010

What a difference a week can make.

The 2010 Census forms were mailed out three weeks ago, and as of last Monday, about one in three American households had returned the form.

By this Monday, that number had climbed to more than one in two.

Local response remained far better than the national average. For the entire country, 56 percent of the forms have been returned, compared to 60 percent in Illinois. Two out of three Bureau County residents have returned their forms for a 67 percent return rate, a 20 percent leap over last week.

In the county, response rates range from 76 percent in Mineral to 41 percent in the village of Bureau, which kept its low spot on the list. Some cities and villages saw sharp increases in their response rates, such as Arlington, which climbed from a bottom-scraping 36 percent to 71 percent in only seven days.

Another city seeing an impressive increase was Spring Valley. The city’s current return rate of 70 percent is better than the county’s average and showed a 50 percent improvement over the previous week.

Economic Development Director Debb Ladgenski has followed the response numbers closely and was pleased to see they broke the 70 percent line Monday.

“It’s important in dollars and cents,” she said. “The more people who respond, the more federal dollars we get.”

Ladgenski said the city’s response rate to the 2000 Census was 80 percent, and she hopes to surpass that figure this year. To do that, the city sent out a flyer through the grade school, put a census message on the city’s Web site, and hung posters at the city hall and library.

Ladgenski has another interest in seeing as many people counted as possible. As secretary of the Richard A. Mautino Memorial Library board for 22 years, Ladgenski sees how much money the library annually receives through a grant based on the census numbers.

“This means more dollars for the library through the per capita grant,” she said. “It’s important to me and I would think to the residents of the community.”

Ladgenski is confident people will continue mailing in their forms.

“If they want more money from the federal government, they need to stand up and be counted,” she said.

In addition to more money for area schools and communities, returning the census form by mail also saves money. According to the Census Bureau, for every percentage point increase in mail response, taxpayers will save an estimated $85 million in federal funds. Those funds would otherwise be required to send census takers to collect census responses in person from households that don’t mail back the form.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.

2010 Census response rate

Government and school officials are encouraging residents to return their 2010 Census forms. Population in almost all parts of the county is estimated to continue to decline, and residents not counted result in even less money for their community and school.Municipality Response as of 3-29 As of 4-5

Bureau County 47 percent 67 percent

Mineral 53 percent 76 percent

Malden 61 percent 75 percent

Dalzell 51 percent 74 percent

LaMoille 53 percent 71 percent

Arlington 36 percent 71 percent

Seatonville 63 percent 70 percent

Spring Valley 46 percent 70 percent

Sheffield 45 percent 69 percent

Tiskilwa 51 percent 68 percent

Princeton 47 percent 68 percent

Ladd 45 percent 68 percent

Dover 56 percent 67 percent

New Bedford 40 percent 67 percent

Neponset 47 percent 66 percent

Wyanet 43 percent 65 percent

Cherry 52 percent 64 percent

Walnut 49 percent 64 percent

Ohio 46 percent 63 percent

Hollowayville 54 percent 62 percent

Buda 46 percent 60 percent

DePue 46 percent 60 percent

Manlius 52 percent 58 percent

Bureau Junction 29 percent 41 percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau