Walker County census count climbs, still lags state and nation

According to a June 24 tally by the U.S. Census Bureau, Walker County’s self-response rate lags behind the state and national rates while Catoosa’s rate surpasses both.

Catoosa County’s selfresponse rate for the questionnaire is 65.4%. At 56.1%, Walker County’s self-reporting rate falls behind Georgia’s 57.6% rate and the U.S. rate of 61.6%.

The rates in Chattooga and Dade counties are 49.1% and 49.8% respectively.

The data from this count, conducted once each decade, determines the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives and is used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.

Census data also determines how federal funding will be disbursed for schools, healthcare, hunger, infrastructure and emergency services over the next decade.

The constitutionally-mandated head count of every person living in the United States has been conducted since 1790.

During the last census in 2010, 76% of Walker County and 79% of Catoosa residents participated in the self-reporting phase. Local officials said the low participation rate potentially led to an undercount, costing the county millions of dollars in funds, which are distributed locally through more than 300 federal programs.

Every person counted in Walker County represents about $2,300 in federal funds for things like school breakfast and lunch programs, student loans, housing and energy assistance, Medicaid, highway planning and construction, transit grants and supplemental nutrition programs like WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), officials said.

Moving forward

The impact of an undercount can last a decade because population estimates and projections are based on census counts.

The head of each household should fill out the census for every person in the home at the time of the count, including any relatives or friends who are temporarily residing in the home. In shared custody situations, children should be counted where they slept on April 1.

All census responses are kept confidential for 72

After the city’s attorneys green-light the proposed charter change, it must be published in the county’s legal organ, The Catoosa County News, and then read, or presented, at two public hearings. Once these requirements are met, the council can officially approved it.

Council member Sara Clark, speaking at the June 22 meeting, said she contacted Sen. years.

After 72 years, the records are released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration for genealogy research.

The local Complete Count Committee urges Georgians to protect themselves and inperson response teams by filling out their census on-line at 2020census.gov, calling the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-844330-2020 or mailing in their forms. The process is simple and takes less than 10 minutes.

Mullis and discussed the proposal with him.

“He’s fine with whatever we want to do,” Clark said. “So he gave his blessing. He said originally he had put it in as 4-2 but it got changed in legislative council. So I don’t know how that happened, but regardless he gave his OK.”

Don Stilwell is editor for The Catoosa County News in Ringgold, Ga., and the Walker County Messenger in LaFayette, Ga.