Area Planning’s GIS and long-range planning staffs are helping local governments and the US Census Bureau prepare for the 2010 US Census. Local budget coffers are the intended recipients of staff’s work.
“The Local Update of Census Addresses Program is a nationwide effort by the US Census Bureau to update address lists prior to the decennial census,” said Tom East, a senior specialist in NKAPC’s GIS department. “It provides an opportunity for local communities to update, add new, or remove old addresses that are no longer valid.”
East and his team are pursuing this effort for all Kenton and Pendleton County jurisdictions and for the City of Cold Spring in Campbell County. NKAPC’s long-range planning staff is assisting with the initiative.
“We use our records that include information from the three property baluation administrators,” said East. “We supplement those data with permit applications and other addresses for apartment complexes, condominiums or nursing homes, and other locations where you may have mulitple addresses in one area.”
After collecting all the data from the different sources, East and his team are comparing them with information provided by the Census Bureau.
“We began this work last November and plan to wrap it up sometime this month,” he said.
Residents will be mailed their census questionnaires using the information East and his team provide to the Cenusus Bureau.
Making sure all reidents are counted in the census is a critical endeavor. Hundreds of federal and state government funding programs are based on population numbers provided through decennial census efforts. Inaccurate or missing addresses often complicate the goal of a complete count of reisents.
“If the community does not respond or participate, the census will just use what information they have and what we have given them and believe to be accurate,” conclude East.