Business
Shortened census could harm MT
Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (2) – 8/6/20
The U.S. Census Bureau announced it is moving its deadline up for the 2020 census from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30 to meet an end-of-the-year deadline resulting in an outcry among Montana officials, including Commissioner Owen Robinson, who called it “insane.” Due to its size and rural nature many residents have yet to receive their census letters and only 525,000 of the state’s million or so residents have been accounted for. The discrepancy will likely cost the state a new congressional seat and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid over the next decade.
“If one person is not counted, Montana loses about $20,000 over a 10-year period,” Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney told MTN NewsWednesday. “And when you start adding that up—so, if it’s 10 people, 20 people, 100 people, 1,000 people, who don’t get counted, it starts to add up to real money for the state of Montana.”
