Prevent Property Tax Hikes By Completing Your 2010 Census Form

Many of us think of the US Census as yet another irritating knock on the door, or a piece of junk mail to be ignored.

But completing Census forms, can help prevent unnecessary property tax hikes in our town.

The Census plays an important part in determining  federal and state aid for our local schools, healthcare, road repairs, and other important community services and programs. An accurate Census count ensures that the state provided programs for our area are properly funded. Without that funding we will have to pay even higher property taxes to cover the same services.

 The Census also plays an important role in determining how strong our state's political voice is, which is critical to passing legislation that is important to our area. Census results control the number of members each state has  in the House of Representatives, and accordingly, the strength of our political voice at that level.

Many people are not aware that they are required by law to complete the census. Failure to complete your census form, or giving false information on the form, can result in serious fines. The federal government takes multiple steps to help residents comply.

Residents who do not return a 2010 Census form in a timely manner will receive a replacement form by mail. If a form is still not mailed back, those residents can expect a personal visit from a census taker some time after March. The census taker will then ask  the questions from the census form personally, record your answers, and  submit the form for your household.

The Census forms are available in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian. You can request a form in one of the five non-English languages. Language Assistance Guides will also be available in 59 different languages to help people fill out the English version.

Since its inception in 1790, the  Census has raised issues of invasion of privacy. For this reason, a law was passed in 1978 stating that an individual's census information cannot be released to the public for 72 years. Census workers take an oath to protect the privacy of all information they collect. Failure to abide by that oath is punishable by a jail term and  fine.

The 2010 Census takes into account how busy we all are. It has only 10 questions and is designed to be completed in 10 minutes or less.

Spend the 10 minutes to protect our community from unnecessary property tax increases when the Census form is mailed to you this March.