A law requiring everyone to participate in the federal government’s once-a-decade head count next year might be enough for many people to respond when questionnaires arrive in March.

If the law isn’t sufficient, though, Pikes Peak region organizers for the 2010 census say there’s also a financial incentive.

The federal government uses census data as the basis for money it gives to state and local governments, an estimated $377 billion nationwide in 2007. The money goes for government projects such as building roads and providing health care to the poor.

“Every person not counted is worth about $880 per person per year for the next decade that we will not be able to avail ourselves to for federal funding,” said J.D. Dallager, chairman of the Pikes Peak Area Complete Count Committee, a group trying to ensure everyone in the area is counted.

Dallager cites a report by the Brookings Institution think tank issued in March that found, throughout Colorado in 2007, the federal government gave grants based on census data amounting to $4.3 billion, or $878.73 per person.

For El Paso and Teller counties, the allocation was about $562 million that year.

But for every person who’s not counted in the census, area governments and other agencies that get money from the U.S. government risk receiving less.

Assuming the U.S. Census Bureau misses 1 percent of the population in El Paso and Teller counties, that could mean a loss of $5.6 million each year for at least the next decade.

Dallager’s committee includes about 60 volunteers who are trying to ensure that everyone is counted in the census.

They’re focused on hard-to-count populations such as people who don’t speak English, the homeless, college students and illegal immigrants. The efforts so far have entailed meetings with many government and nonprofit boards, and helping Census Bureau workers identify areas where extra attention might be necessary to ensure everyone is counted.

The census forms include 10 questions about age, sex, race, ethnicity and living circumstances. People who don’t fill out and return the forms will be paid a visit by census workers.

“It’s safe, it’s easy, it’s important, and it doesn’t take much time,” Dallager said.

For the last census, in 2000, the response rate in El Paso County was 72 percent, and in Teller County it was 60 percent.

CENSUS DETAILSThe U.S. Constitution calls for a head count of everyone in the country each decade. The central purpose is to determine how seats in the U.S. House of Representatives should be apportioned to the states. Policymakers, businesses and researchers also use the data to track social and economic trends. Responding to a census questionnaire is required by law. For details, visit http://2010.census.gov.

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Call the writer at 636-0187. For more data about the Pikes Peak region, visit the Data Geek blog.