MANSFIELD — It’s almost time to let the counting begin.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planed Wednesday at 10 a.m. to officially open the local U.S. Census Bureau office at 800 Park Ave. West, Suite 100, Richland County commissioners said during their meeting Tuesday.
The annual nationwide count, done every 10 years as required by the U.S. Constitution, is tied directly to a variety of federal funding programs.
According to local officials, the Census count of population is tied to $675 billion annually in federal funding, of which Ohio received about $33 billion in 2018.
The count will help allocate federal dollars across a wide spectrum of programs such as education, healthcare, law enforcement, highways and more, according to the Census Bureau.
“There are no do-overs,” said Rose Simmons, U.S. Census Bureau partnership specialist based in Columbus. “We live with these numbers for 10 years.”
Officials have said studies showed it costs Ohio $1,814 annually for every individual not counted in the Census.
“We want to make this personal to Richland County, as well,” Commissioner Marilyn John said when local officials launched #RichlandCounts in April 2019 — one year before the population counting actually was to begin.
“We want the residents of the county to really understand the importance of why the census takes place and how it impacts us here locally,” John said.
The local Census office is still hiring workers. Applications can be completed at the office or done online. Census positions in Richland County will pay between $14 and $15.50 per hour.
Mansfield City Council 4th Ward representative Alomar Davenport is sponsoring a “Census Bureau Job Fair” today from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at North Lake Park.
The primary Census will ask 11 questions in its 2020 basic questionnaire, aimed at counting every man, woman and child living in the country and recording information such as age, sex and race.
Under federal law, personal information cannot be shared with any government agency outside of the Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau will begin mailing notices on March 12. Most people will receive instructions on how to fill out the forms online.
Paper forms will go to targeted areas with older populations or where people are less likely to have internet access. Then, starting April 8, paper forms will be mailed to all households that have not yet responded.
In other activity, commissioners appointed Ontario Mayor Randy Hutchinson to fill a vacancy on the Richland County Law Library Board.
