Officials representing many of the municipalities, districts and agencies in Arapahoe County met Dec. 16 for discussions on methods to try to ensure the 2010 census counts everyone.

Frank Weddig, Arapahoe County Commissioner, who chaired the meeting, said estimates are the 2000 census didn’t include about 10 percent of county residents.

He said the goal is to eliminate duplications and to work together in order to drop the number of people not counted to as close to zero as possible.

The push to improve the accuracy of the census is stressed because funding for so many federal and state programs are tied to the census numbers. Estimates are a community or county loses almost $900 in program funding for every resident not counted by the census.

Larry Mugler, census partnership specialist, the U.S. constitution mandates there be a census every 10 years and there has been a census every decade since 1790.

“The census is the largest peacetime mobilization our country does and it is done every 10 years,” he said. “We are beginning the planning now because we know we need the active support of local officials to make this the most successful census every.”

Mugler explained people will begin receiving the forms in March and the 10-question form is the smallest in census history.

Residents are asked to complete the form and return it by mail by about April 1.

“If we don’t get a form from a residence by April 1, we’ll send our a second form,” Mugler said. “If we still don’t get a response by about April 15, we will personally visit the people and urge them to complete the census.”

The census bureau will have help available for those who struggle with the form, Mugler said. Plans are to set up 40 to 50 questionnaire assistance sites around the county. There will be people at the sites to help with issues such as language barriers.

“We plan to have interpreters fluent is six different languages available as well as flash cards in 59 other languages to help direct people where to go to get interpretation help,” he said.

The census bureau also has sent curriculum and lesson plan materials to superintendents and principals in area schools.

The county is split between two regional offices. The Aurora office, which is located in Centennial, works with the portion of Arapahoe County east of Interstate-25. The remainder of Arapahoe County, all of Douglas County and Park County, as well as most of Jefferson County, work with the census representatives in the Lakewood office.

For more information about the census, visit the Web site at www.census.gov. Those in eastern Arapahoe County can call the Centennial office at 303-385-4200 and those in western Arapahoe County and in Douglas County can call the Lakewood office at 720-475-3670.