To the Editor:

It’s not too late!

Did you receive your census notification yet? If you did, have you completed and returned it?

As of today, 72.6 percent of Altamont’s households have responded. This means that 206 of Altamont’s households have not responded yet. Although Altamont is responding better than New York State’s total response rate, we can do better! Every response counts and goes a long way to support our village.

For every person not counted in these non-responding households, the village will lose $10,000 in revenue from the county, state, and federal governments that support public works, the police, the fire department, the library, and all our village administrative functions. If that happens, the village government may have to increase taxes or reduce services, which is something none of us want.

There are several ways to complete the census. Some people choose to do it online through the census website; others prefer to wait until they are sent a paper form that they can fill out and mail in; still others give their answers to a census representative over the phone. Each of those ways is perfectly fine. We just need to do it!

— If you received a census notification with a specific ID code in the mail, go to the link:  my2020census.gov, enter your ID code where noted, and complete the form.

— If you have received a census questionnaire by mail, complete it, and mail it back in the provided envelope, postage-free.

— If you do not receive a mailing, go to the link above, click on the button that says, “If you do not have a Census ID click here,” and you will be led through a series of questions after you enter your home address.

— If you do not or cannot complete the form online, you can contact the census by phone to complete the form. Call toll-free: 1-844-330-2020.

The next stage in census operations is designed to occur in areas where the majority of housing units do not have mail delivered to the physical location of the housing unit, or the mail delivery information to the unit cannot be verified. Census staff will deliver census packets in these areas soon and extend into mid-July.  

One last follow-up to non-responding households by census workers is scheduled to begin Aug. 11 and extend to Oct. 31.

If you want to avoid any personal interaction in these follow-ups because of concerns about COVID-19, we recommend you respond by one of the methods (by internet or phone) above.

However you complete the form, it’s easy and takes less than 10 minutes! Once you’ve responded, encourage your family and friends to complete the census too. Share and like posts at your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts with friends and family.

Jim Gaughan

Altamont Mayor

2005 to 2017

Joe Burke

Altamont Free

Library Director