Local Census participation better than most areas

Somewhat lost in the widespread coverage relating to the coronavirus is the fact that Wednesday, April 1, is Census Day.

The constitutionally-mandated population count occurs every 10 years and the numbers determine a variety of things including political representation and how tax dollars are spent.

So far, Union County has a higher reporting percentage than any other county in Northeast Mississippi with 37.4 percent of the households already having submitted their forms. The county is not first in number reporting via the internet, however. Only 15.2 percent of the census forms have been submitted online, which falls in the general middle range.

Union County had a 67.9 percent participation in 2010, so the county is more than halfway to that level. Only Lowndes County was close to Union County in reporting and New Albany was among the highest-reporting cities at 36.6 percent.

Census officials hope to conclude work by August but the situation with the coronavirus may affect that.

Fieldwork, going to individual addresses to follow up on non-responses, was discontinued until April 1 and that may be extended.

Officials feared there might be difficulty with the census because they had trouble recruiting enough workers, even though jobs paid up to about $18 an hour and were very flexible. That has not proved to be a problem, despite the need to get the word out to 330 million people in 140 million households.

While encouraging online response for the first time, census officials worry that this may lead to under-reporting for some demographics. Another uncertain factor concerns college students. If they are included at home instead of at school due to cancellation of classes, that will throw off final figures.

Locally, participation in Lafayette and Oktibbeha counties are lower than expected, possibly due to this.

The delay of field work will also put off counting those in nursing and care homes as well as the homeless, who should be included.

While participating in the census is legally required, enforcing that is problematic. Only nine questions are included for the primary person in a household and fewer for other occupants. The information is confidential by law and there is not a question concerning U. S. citizenship despite efforts by President Donald Trump to have it included.

Some people question the need for a census and ask what it is used for.

First, it determines how many representatives our state has in the U. S. House of Representatives. A low count before caused Mississippi to lose a much-needed representative.

Census data may cause supervisors’ district and city ward boundaries to be redrawn on the local level so that representation is more evenly balanced.

If that does not seem relevant enough, here are some, but not nearly all, programs for which funding is determined by the census:

• Unemployment Insurance
• What you may receive with Medicaid and Medicare Part B
• Disaster preparedness, including medical care and emergency response teams such as are needed now with the coronavirus
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• The SNAP Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
• Housing assistance programs
• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Child welfare services
• National School Lunch Program
• Federal Pell Grant Program
• Grants for schools
• Funding for roads, bridges and other infrastructure
• Head Start program funding

In a recent opinion piece, Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton said that based on “Counting for Dollars 2020” by Andrew Reamer of George Washington University, Mississippi received $10,113,194,229 in the 2016 fiscal year from federal funds distributed through 55 federal spending programs that are guided by data derived from the 2010 census. That equals $3,408.22 per Mississippi resident, on average, and every year this decade.

That can make a lot of difference to all aspects of one’s life.

Most states have promoted participation since a higher count means more state funding but Mississippi Today reported that our state was not one of those top spenders.

Some, but not all, households will receive a paper census form (the forms are more commonly sent to neighborhoods where it is believed older people live, reportedly). Some will received a notice with an ID and request to respond online but everyone has the option of responding by mail, online or even by phone.

For those who do not respond, workers will go door-to-door beginning in May, depending on the degree of control of the coronavirus.

Below are reporting figures for selected Northeast Mississippi counties including the total so far through this past week, the percentage filing online and the total percentage for the 2010 Census. Also included are the last week’s totals for selected cities. Lower online totals may represent less availability of high-speed internet access.

Census participation

County                   Total       Net     2010

Alcorn                     33.6      12.8      64.5

Benton                     27.5      10.0      52.8

Calhoun                   26.6        8.0      58.5

Chickasaw                35.1      10.6      64.7

Clay                        34.3      18.0      63.8

DeSoto                    33.1      32.0      71.0

Itawamba                 33.6      14.3      63.4

Lafayette                  23.4      20.7      54.7

Lee                         34.0      21.0      64.0

Lowndes                  37.1      23.9      64.9

Marshall                  31.0      12.1      62.1

Monroe                    35.1      13.3      65.3

Oktibbeha                27.2      22.8      61.1

Pontotoc                  33.8      14.1      66.1

Prentiss                   35.7      10.8      64.7

Tippah                     30.8        9.4      64.0

Tishomingo              29.4        7.9      62.0

Union                      37.4      15.2      67.9

Statewide                 32.1

Cities                     Total

Amory                     35.1

Ashland                   29.7

Blue Mountain          24.3

Blue Springs             33.9

Booneville                37.1

Calhoun City            20.4

Columbus                38.4

Corinth                    32.8

Ecru                        32.4

Fulton                     32.4

Hickory Flat             24.5

Holly Springs           28.1

Houston                   38.4

Myrtle                     28.1

New Albany             36.6

Oxford                     19.1

Pontotoc                  30.2

Ripley                     33.1

Sherman                  18.5

Starkville                 28.2

Tupelo                     34.4

West Point               38.2