HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Administrator Randy Partington wanted to stress the need for county residents to fill out the 2020 census form and return it.
The census is used to determine how much federal funding can be available to the county and its communities. Partington showed the County Commission on Tuesday just how much money can be lost if residents don’t return the census form.
Partington noted that, for each household not counted in the census, the county could lose an average of $49,000 per household over a period of 10 years. Most think that the lack of participation only hurts the larger communities, which is not so.
The average amount of potential funding lost in Buhler is around $50,300 per household, $45,600 in Abbyville, and nearly $55,000 in Partridge.
After getting off to a fast start, the percentage of residents filling out their census has remained stagnant at around 69%.
Some of the programs that could be hurt by not reporting your census includes Head Start, foster care, school lunch programs and health center programs.
If you need any more information on the census locally, you can contact City Planner Ryan Hvitlok at 620-694-2681.