MARK BENNETT: Poor response rate for 2010 U.S. Census could cost Terre Haute

By Mark Bennett

A “none-of-your-bleepin’-business” attitude toward the 2010 U.S. Census could cost Terre Haute dearly.

The city could drop on the priority list for state and federal projects if the local population is undercounted. Businesses looking for a new store location might bypass Terre Haute for a place with stronger growth. Indiana could lose a congressional seat, just as it did as a result of the 2000 Census.

Yes, it’s a bit of a personal invasion by the government. But the Founding Fathers wrote it into the Constitution, for cryin’ out loud, and the streamlined 2010 version includes just 10 questions and takes less than 10 minutes to fill out. So if you’ve got pent-up indignation, chop some wood or take a yoga class.

Census Day isn’t until April 1, 2010, but Terre Haute’s performance in the process is relevant right now.

Census Bureau employees, mostly local people, already are canvassing the area. They’re assigned to verify and update addresses, and to figure out how many living quarters are on that property. They’ve been instructed to knock on every door. Using their research, the bureau will mail questionnaires to every household next March. Those who fail to return their completed forms by April 1 will get another mailed to their home. If that doesn’t yield a response, Census enumerators will visit those households to gather the information in person.

An estimated $300 billion in federal funds are allocated based on Census figures. Over a decade, that’s approximately $4,000 per Hoosier.

Every uncounted Hautean costs the city. The community appears to be smaller than reality.

“It starts adding up, and it starts eating away at the funding base,” said Carol Rogers, deputy director of the Indiana Business Research Center in Indianapolis. “The picture of Terre Haute that gets painted is not the one you want painted.”

The 2000 Census left lots of empty white space in Terre Haute’s picture. The city’s response rate was just 63 percent. Out of Indiana’s 31 largest towns, only the three Region cities — Gary, Michigan City and East Chicago — had worse response rates.

Terre Haute and those northeast towns don’t deserve all of the blame. Problems with the Census Bureau’s master address file initially left some Indiana neighborhoods without questionnaires, according to an Indiana Business Research Center report in 2000. It also cited complaints from some communities that local officials were expected to function as unpaid Census workers.

Still, a lot of other large Indiana cities — 27, to be exact — dealt with those headaches and responded in greater percentages. The distaste for divulging information to the government may be part of Terre Haute’s problem.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’m not going to fill one of those out. They don’t need to know how many people live here,’” Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett said. “But we really need them to do it.”

The actual number of people living in this city matters. The 50,000 population plateau is significant because towns above that line can connect to federal agencies for funding, Bennett said, citing the local Department of Redevelopment as an example. Terre Haute’s people count has dwindled closer to that cutoff line this decade. The 2000 Census totaled 59,614 residents. The latest Census Bureau estimates show Terre Haute dropped to 58,932. Between 2000 and 2005, Vigo County lost more residents (3,256) than any other Indiana county.

The 50,000 mark for the city is only one concern. As Terre Haute’s Census counts fall, the city risks also descending on the state’s priorities list.

“Terre Haute can miss out on federal or state dollars that are allocated based on population,” said Rogers, who serves as Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Census liaison and advises the state’s “Complete Count Commission.” Locally, Bennett has begun organizing a Complete Count Committee for Terre Haute. An effort by the state and the Census Bureau has pushed for similar Complete Count Committees throughout Indiana.

“We find the best way to do that is to get local people involved,” said Muriel Jackson, media specialist for the Census Bureau in Chicago.

Since April, 1,100 workers have been hired to begin updating and verifying residents’ addresses in southwestern Indiana. Jackson said the bureau’s policy is to hire local people for the decennial counts.

The 2010 questionnaires aren’t probing. In past decennial Census counts, most U.S. households received similar short forms, but a random portion got long forms with detailed questions. Those more intensive questionnaires have since been replaced by the Census Bureau’s ongoing, annually updated American Community Survey, which began in 2005.

Terre Haute has some unique factors working for and against it. The city benefits, numbers-wise, from the Census Bureau’s policy of counting prison inmates as residents of the city where they’re incarcerated, rather than their original hometowns. In 2000, Terre Haute had 2,873 people counted as “institutionalized” residents. As of Friday, the Bureau of Prisons Web site listed 3,417 inmates housed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute.

But the city also struggles to accurately count all the college students living here. Terre Haute qualifies as their Census residence, too, rather than their original hometowns. But those living in apartments with multiple roommates are sometimes hard to reach for the Census enumerators, and may fail to respond to questionnaires.

And then there’s folks who think the government has no business counting their heads, or inquiring about their heritage, or asking whether they rent or own their homes.

“They should keep in mind they are obligated legally and by the Constitution of the United States to do this,” Rogers said.

Besides, as Rogers added of the 10 Census questions, “We tell Amazon.com more than that.”

Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.