Census forms require critical return for "high risk" eastern NC counties

70% of forms will likely be returned

By: Arthur Mondale | WNCT
Published: March 19, 2010

Eastern NC
You have probably already gotten your census forms and it is critical you return them by April 1st.
The fact is, if you and your neighbors don't send it back it could end up costing your county millions of dollars.
Why? As 9OYS reports, government funding is based on population.
Currently, there are 10 counties in the east at “high risk” not to send census forms back.
The state says roughly $1,000 per person in federal funding is at stake each year.
While census workers were in a rush to get the census forms out, the reality is not every one in the east has caught on to the “return envelope bandwagon”.
The Greenville headquarters office which covers 11 counties estimates only 70% of those forms will actually be returned.
That makes counties in the east "high risk" for not getting much needed federally funded programs---from money for schools to health care and housing.
But Bob Coats, current Governor's Census Liaison with the NC Budget & Management Office says constant movers and the poor pose a significant problem in returns.
To fix that, census workers will have to hit the pavement and try to get the information face to face.

If you don't return your census questionnaires by mid-April your name will go on a “non-response list”.
1,800 workers will span across the east---going door-to-door to make sure counties in the east which are considered at “high risk” of losing government money---won't be left out.