Census ending with budget surplus

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Census Bureau is $1.6 billion under budget for conducting the 2010 survey, due primarily to avoiding the catastrophic problems that some had predicted, top Obama administration officials said Tuesday.

Currently the census, which is conducted every 10 years to gather statistics on the U.S. population, is 22 percent under budget, according to the bureau.

In response to doomsday predictions of possible glitches in new survey software, Congress allocated a contingency fund to tap if anything arose that would hinder the survey. Even though the contingency fund has gone untouched, Robert Groves, the Census Bureau’s director, said he thinks the allocation was worthwhile, noting that the 1990 census ran out of funds and that an outbreak of H1N1 flu virus could have interfered with this year’s survey.

Groves also attributed the $1.6 billion surplus to efficiency, both from the census-taking work force end and in public response rates as well. Groves noted the use of advertisements and follow-ups in previously low response areas, as well as a more “focused” work force of surveyors at a time of high unemployment.

Groves emphasized that collecting information for the current census isn’t over, as the bureau will deploy surveyors to increase the chances that the data gathered is accurate.