Another blow for towns still trying to recover from this year's historic flooding. When Census data is collected next spring, displaced flood victims must use their temporary address to fill out the form, even if they plan to return to their flood-stricken home.
"We don't want to fall off the map. There are a lot of proud people in this town and we'd like to see it come back,” Cindi Bibb tells 6 News. She’s working to repair her home in Pacific Junction, Iowa. Like the other 200 plus homes in town, it was wiped out by the floodwaters in March.
Mayor Andy Young says the chances of people being moved back by the time the Census is taken on April 1 are low, which means they’ll have to use their temporary address. It's a tough reality for Young, who tells 6 News he needs those people to count in his town.
“It's an important part of maintaining your tax base in your towns and your community.” His concern is the misleading count could cut the town short of government grants and other funding, with his primary worry being infrastructure costs.
“The number one thing that would affect us is our road use tax. When your census goes down then your road use tax goes down from the state.”
He noted that they rely on those funds to maintain their roads and if the dollars stop coming it would have a crippling impact on the town.
The Census Bureau says it will start mailing out forms in mid-March and that people displaced by the flood should go online where there's an option to fill out the Census even if they don't receive a form by mail.