REXBURG — Rexburg city officials are taking steps to make sure all of its residents are accounted for in the 2020 census.

Mayor Jerry Merrill announced during the Feb. 6 city council meeting that the city was organizing a Correct Count Committee.

The committee operates under the United States Census Bureau’s Complete Count Committees (CCC) program and its guidelines.

“When community members are informed, they are more likely to respond to the census,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website. “Through collaborative partnerships, the U.S. Census Bureau and community leaders can reach the shared goal of counting everyone in 2020.”

Scott Johnson, Rexburg’s economic development director, said the city is organizing the committee but that it’s a Madison County effort. He said organizers plan to have organizations including Brigham Young University-Idaho and local school districts as well as government entities such as Sugar City and Madison County involved.

He said the only reason the city is organizing the committee is because it has ample manpower to do so.

“We formed this committee so that we would all have a better understanding of what to do and why it’s important, we really haven’t done something like this before,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the committee’s first meeting will be in March and organizers haven’t decided who will be on the committee just yet.

Merrill said the city is missing out on federal and state funds that are allocated based on population size.

“It’s estimated that it costs us about $3,500 to $4,000 every year per person that they miss,” Merrill said. “So if we miss a thousand people, do the math that’s a lot of money.”

The United States census is conducted every 10 years as mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, the census is used for apportionment or the process of determining the number of seats every state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“(It) is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities,” according to the website.

The Census Bureau will count approximately 330 million people in more than 140 million dwellings, its website said.

“To get an accurate count, the Census Bureau must build an accurate address list of every housing unit, maximize self-response to the census, and efficiently follow up with those who do not respond,” the website said.

Based on the Bureau’s 2017 estimates there were about 28,337 people living in Rexburg as of July 1, 2017. BYU-Idaho’s on-campus enrollment for its Winter 2019 semester was 19,235 students.

In fall of 2010, BYU-Idaho enrollment was 12,690 students.

Getting an accurate count on the area’s growing population, including documenting growth at BYU-Idaho, is important.

Rexburg leaders challenged the 2010 census count in 2011. City leaders at the time felt the count missed 5,000 BYU-Idaho students. That kind of miscount could cost the city close $20 million.

This time around, Johnson said city leaders want the census to count all the BYU-Idaho students living in Rexburg in 2020.

Johnson said one of the main issues with counting students is the misconception that if they take part of the census in Rexburg, they may lose their residency status in a different state or their parents can’t claim them on their taxes.

“It doesn’t affect their residency,” Johnson said. “We’ve heard students say ‘well, my parents can’t claim me on their taxes’ that’s not true at all. We’re really trying to educate people. That’s the goal.”

Daniel Velez, Public Affairs Specialist for the Census Bureau, said that generally students should be counted where they live the most.

College students who live away from their parents’ or guardians’ home while attending college in the United States should be counted at the on-campus or off-campus residence where they live and sleep most of the time. That’s the case even if those students return to their parents’ homes for holiday and school breaks, such as summer vacation. That information is detailed in the 2020 Census Residence Criteria and Residence Situations memorandum. The same goes for foreign students living in Rexburg. If they live most of the year in town going to BYU-Idaho, then they should be counted as living in Rexburg.

Merrill said city leaders are excited to get started on the committee and educating the city and students on participating in the 2020 census.

“Sure we won’t get it 100 percent right but we’ll get as close as we can,” Merrill said.