Julia Welch Area representative of the Census Bureau addressed the Choctaw County Board of Supervisors at their regular meeting on Monday, October 7, as a reminder that the census will take place in 2020, and that it is critical to get an accurate count of residents.
The decadal counting of every person living in the United States is set to take place in April. There are significant financial consequences to undercounting.
The U.S Constitution requires every single person living in the United States to be counted every 10 years. It’s called the enumeration clause, and the primary purpose is to determine how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives.
But in the modern era, the Census count has another significant impact: federal funding.
The federal government uses something called formula funding to award federal grants to the states. In essence, it assigns money on a per capita basis for programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Mississippi receives billions of dollars every year for things like healthcare, education, and transportation.
Welch added that in 2010 $675B was allocated based on census numbers.
In the past, most people have responded to the Census using a survey mailed to their home. Beginning in 2020, residents have an option of answering the census questionnaire by internet, phone or mail. But the Constitution requires every single individual to be counted. So the Census Bureau will deploy a small army of enumerators, who will go door-to-door on April 1st, 2020.
Welch noted that the workers hired should be from the local area and that they would work with community groups, and non-profit organizations to help the count and dispel any myths about the census and counteract fear about the census.
Census Day is April 1st, 2020.
In other action, the Board:
• Voted 5-0 to approve the September payroll.
• Voted 5-0 to recognize destruction of bonds R-6.
• Voted 5-0 to recognize the hospital budget.
• Voted 5-0 to approve travel for the Veteran’s Service Officer.
• Voted 5-0 to approve travel for the County Fire Investigator.
• Voted 5-0 to approve the September jail inspection.
