Make sure you’re counted in 2020 Census, city manager urges

LACONIA — City Manager Scott Myers is appealing to all city residents to fill out their 2020 Census survey as soon as possible.

In a letter distributed via email and posted on the city’s website, Myers pointed out that all the news about emergency federal aid for states and cities and towns to deal with catastrophic expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic shows how critical census data are.

“If you think of the responses occurring at the federal level at this time, they are mostly geared toward allocating funds based on population,” Myers wrote. “But even if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, much of our federal funding is driven by population data. Our census number for 2020 locks us into that figure for the next 10 years,” he added.

The population number will be used to calculate how much federal funding the city will receive to support schools, medical facilities, roads, bridges, and other public facilities or infrastructure.

Myers encouraged those residents who have not answered the Census questionnaire to do so soon. People can answer the questions online or over the telephone. Information on how to answer the questions is explained in mailings every resident should have received from the Census Bureau in recent weeks.

Myers' letter was sent to about 2,000 residents and businesses which are on the city’s email distribution list. The letter is also posted on the city’s website, www.laconianh.gov. The letter can be accessed by clicking on the button labeled “Important Census Request” at the top of the homepage.