Mayor Mallory leads charge for accurate 2010 census that could save Cincinnati up to $104 million

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | Source: SOAPBOX

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory knows the value of an accurate Census count.

Given his strong track record of combing the city for overlooked residents, Mayor Mallory has been appointed chair of the 2010 Census Task Force for the US Conference of Mayors (USCM), which met for the first time during the USCM Winter Meeting in Washington DC last week.

“Every city in the country needs to be preparing for Census right now,” Mayor Mallory says.

Mayor Mallory kicked off the meeting by making the case for the importance of getting the numbers right, stressing that cities can literally save millions of dollars by doing so.

In fact, at the rate of losing an estimated $2,263 per uncounted person, Cincinnati could lose as much as $104 million if the figures aren't complete.

"If a city’s population is undercounted, it will cost the city millions of dollars over the next ten years," Mayor Mallory says.

With so much money at stake, the House of Representatives introduced an Economic Stimulus Package of $1 billion to be used for nailing down accurate numbers in 2010; $150 million of which will be put toward communicating and reaching out to minority populations.

Alongside Mayor Mallory's wake-up call to the nation's mayors, other presentations were made by Darryl Piggee of the Congressional Subcommittee on the Census; Tom Mesenbourg, Deputy Director and Chief Operation Officer of the US Census Bureau; and Jamie Alderslade of Social Compact, who collaborated with Mayor Mallory on the Shop 52 DrillDown Study in 2007, which revealed Cincinnati's true population of 378,000.

Thorough preparation for the Census was the main topic of discussion; with good reason.

There are more than 170 federal programs, doling out $300 billion annually, based on Census count and population estimates. Further, $260 billion will be invested in commercial development over the next four years – again, based on Census counts.

“The Census sets a city’s destiny for the next decade. In Cincinnati, we have been planning for over a year and have assembled a Census committee of over 100 local leaders to ensure that everyone is counted.”