Despite looming cost increases to reform national healthcare and tax increases to balance our state budget, a man blasted the Census Bureau about a letter alerting us to complete the census form on April 1. The blaster blamed the government for wasting postage, trees, and labor to mail what could have been included with the survey. He laughed at himself for focusing on a trivial letter, but his emotion is understandable because he had to slash his organization’s budget and salvage what he could from Olympia’s proposed spending.
    Did he expose another example of bureaucratic waste? No, according to a federal spokesman from East Wenatchee. More importantly, he insists, the marketing is to motivate us to save taxpayer money and simultaneously bring in $1,400 per person to our communities.
    The missionary marketer is Steve Pasion. Steve worked as a public employee for the City of Spokane and the State of Washington. Luckily for us Steve moved here to be near his young daughters. He’s contracted to educate, market and speak for the Department of Commerce’s 2010 Census.
    Two days after blaster’s comments, Steve attended my service club’s luncheon. He decorated our tables with 2010 Census branding on bright blue beverage cups, red and white baggage tags, and a flyer with the theme: “It’s Easy. It’s safe. It’s important. It’s in your hands.” Skeptical tablemates poked at the materials and shook their heads amidst comments like, “Why are they wasting money on this?”
     Steve wasn’t allowed to present from the podium. Most of the materials were returned to him, presumably because few members wanted to be seen with 2010 Census branding.
Afterward one member questioned the need for an exhaustive census. Steve pointed out that Congress believes everyone counts and should be counted once every ten years. His answer sounded like a Marine on a rescue team: “We do get everybody.”
    If household members don’t fill out the survey, contracted census takers track them down at ten times the expense. He said, “The marketing spends dimes that save dollars,” calling it, “Priceless.”
He put savings on it. Census officials estimate that each one percent increase in the return rate saves $80 - $90 million. If we raise the survey return rate three points, we save taxpayers about a quarter-of-a-billion dollars. For the great majority of us, the most important way we can cut wasteful spending in the next two weeks is fill out the survey and return it immediately.
    Then he surprised us saying, “It’s worth about $1,400 per person.”
    The census determines the $430 billion federal annual allocation to our communities, which is approximately $1,400 per person. Steve told East Wenatchee’s City Council that its anticipated increase of one thousand citizens over the last decade would mean $14 million more dollars over the next decade to improve roads, sewers, school districts, and services to the aging. That’s important for a city struggling to raise $25 million to rebuild Grant Road from Sunset highway to Kentucky Avenue.
    Support Steve Pasion’s passionate plea. Display branding materials. Brag about our Census Bureau counting every person. Make every person count. Hold rallies. Host survey-signing parties. Ask not what you can do for your country, for now you know: fill out that census form!