Census Bureau counting on reply from more Nevadans

Jace Radke

Thursday, March 25, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

David Byerman understands if his message doesn't play well in Nevada.

But the representative of the U.S. Census Bureau says in his case, he al is from the government and he really al is here to help. An accurate count of Nevadans will only help the state, and a count that comes up short could hurt in many ways, he says.

The bureau is gearing up to battle deep resistance to its 2000 count. Only 51 percent of the questionnaires mailed to Nevadans for the 1990 Census were returned, and as a result the Commerce Department estimates the state's count came up 29,000 short.

At a meeting Tuesday night at Cashman Complex, Census Bureau representatives made their pitch to enlist local government officials in their battle to persuade more Nevadans to reply when the forms are sent out in mid-March 2000.

Some people fear that their personal information will leak out from the census, Byerman told local officials. That is why a complete count needs local leadership.

"I can say that there has not been a single case of the FBI or INS being able to pry into this information, but that's coming from a guy whose checks are cut by Uncle Sam," Byerman said. "That's why we need to recast this as a state issue and network with the trusted leaders of the communities."

The stakes are high.

In all the 2000 Census is expected to count 275 million U.S. residents. More than $100 billion in federal funds will be awarded to localities based on census numbers, Byerman said.

"For Las Vegas alone there is $40 million to $50 million that is riding on the numbers from the census," Byerman said. "That should be reason enough to convince people to fill out their forms."

Another good reason, he said, is that the state is on the cusp of being granted a third member in the House of Representatives.

"Very small shifts can mean the difference in whether Nevada gets that representative," said Dave Swanson of the Science Applications International Corporation.

Regular meetings with local officials on the upcoming census are only the beginning for the newly formed Southern Nevada Census 2000 Committee. This summer the committee will shift into high gear to advertise and promote the census.

"Our biggest goal is to promote awareness of the importance of the census to the average Nevadan," the committee's planning supervisor Tom Perrigo said. "To do this, the committee will be working closely with the valley's local government entities, the school district and the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition.

"When complete count starts, we are hoping to really push down to the grass- roots level as much as possible. We'll be looking to access all the different communities in the valley."

Right now, in addition to drumming up support from local officials, the committee is taking care of preliminary tasks like producing accurate maps, defining the boundaries of census tracts and reviewing address lists.

The census forms for 2000 are the shortest that the bureau has put out in 180 years, said spokesman Jerry O'Donnell. They ask questions pertaining to race, tenure, ancestry, income and work status among other topics.

The only new question on this year's census involves grandparents as caregivers, which is a growing trend, O'Donnell said.

A small number of Nevadans who live in isolated areas will be visited by a census worker, much the way that the entire census was conducted before 1960.

Finally some areas will be canvassed twice because of high growth rates.

"In places like Henderson and Elko, we will compile a mailing list and send out forms to those homes," O'Donnell said. "But since a lot of the people in those fast-growing areas use post office boxes and the area is growing so fast, we will go through and distribute forms in March.

"It's more costly to us, but it gives us a second shot to get all the people in those areas counted."