DEERFIELD — Another impact from Washington politics in Franklin County could be proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Census Bureau, according to state Rep. Paul Mark, who was recently named House chair of the state’s Joint Redistricting Committee.
Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson has quit because of under-funding, and “when you add that into, I think a climate of fear” where certain minorities and immigrant populations “communities are going to be afraid to come forward and report, we could be looking at an inaccurate census,” Mark told a gathering of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Friday.
That could impact federal aid and other programs based on Census data. If those populations fail to report because they don’t trust the Census or don’t trust the government, Mark said, an underfunded Census Bureau could mean “The people who are supposed to find them and make sure they’re filling it out aren’t going to be there,” especially in rural western Massachusetts and other rural areas.
The state is not projected to lose another congressional seat, as it did in 2010. Based on current population projections for 2020 the state’s population to grow nearly 7.8 percent.
But this part of the state’s population is not growing as fast — it’s only growing at only 1.8 percent in Rep. Richard Neal’s 1st Congressional District, and Rep. Jim McGovern’s 2nd Congressional District is growing by about 2 percent. That means, Mark explained, that Neal’s district will need to add about 40,000 people, and McGovern’s district will need to add about 20,000 people, with each district likely skewing further eastward.
Chamber Chairwoman Linda Dunlavy added, “The population in western Mass., especially in Franklin County and parts of Berkshire County, is stagnant and declining. So an accurate census count in western Massachusetts is really critical for us.”
Mark said that out-of-state students attending college in Massachusetts have a choice of claiming their residency in the state, and state Senate President Rosenberg added that the state works with various groups, including private school associations, to have their school populations included as “group residences” in the Census count.