Longboat Key urges residents to fill out census forms

Longboat Key officials are urging residents to fill out their forms for the 2020 U.S. Census.

As of Wednesday, April 15, Longboat Key has had a self-response rate of 30.6%. The questions can be answered online, by mail or by calling 1-844-330-2020.

“It seems like the responses from Longboat were a little laggy,” said Longboat Key Support Services Director Carolyn Brown.

As of Friday morning, Longboat Key’s response rate ranks 347th out of 409 cities and towns in Florida.

Brown said the town has used social media and reached out to condominium associations to get more people to submit their Census forms. The Census is conducted every 10 years.

Longboat Key had a self-response rate of 43.7% in 2010, according to Assistant Regional Census Manager Marilyn Stephens.

There's still plenty of time to fill out Census forms. Stephens said the 2020 Census data collection had been scheduled to stop at the end of July. It has since been pushed back to the fall.

“They are really slated to outperform what they did in 2010 on the self-response side,” Stephens said of Longboat Key.

So far, Florida has seen 47.7% of its residents respond and the national response rate is 49.4%.

In 2010, Florida's rate was 63%.

It’s unclear what effect — if any — the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Census response rate.

“What we’re really noticing is that now people realize that they don’t have to have any public contact,” Stephens said. “When we have to knock on the door, those are non-responding households, who have not self responded.”

Most of Longboat Key's responses have been through the online portal.
“It could be a variety of different things,” Brown said of COVID-19’s potential impact on the Census. “Some of our folks have already left for the season and that could be attributed to the coronavirus.”

Filling out the Census determines how federal money is allocated for municipalities. Stephens said the allocation is for programs such as emergency preparedness, emergency management services, health care services, services for seniors, services for veterans, highway planning, construction and more.

The Census also determines how may legislators Florida has in Congress for the next 10 years and also defines local congressional district boundaries.

“I like for residents to think about this as a once-a-decade reset,” Stephens said.

For anyone concerned about security, Stephens said Title 13 and Title 44 protect citizens’ data.

“[Title 13] states that we can only publish information in tabulation form,” Stephens said. “We cannot publish anything that will identify a household or an individual or a family with the responses they provide to us. And, then it further states that that information cannot be shared with anyone including law enforcement, not the CIA, not the FBI.”

Under Title 44, Census data is sealed off for 72 years.