DOBSON — The Surry County Planning and Development Department is overseeing the formation of a “Complete County Committee” for Surry County, on behalf of the U.S. Census Bureau and that agency’s effort to achieve the most thorough possible accounting of the county’s residents.

The Complete Count Committee will convene on Aug. 4 at 1:30 p.m. for a three-hour training session at the Surry County Government Center, at 118 Hamby Road.

Surry County Planning Director Kim Bates said helping the Census Bureau is important to Surry County residents.

“We trust we will learn a great deal next Tuesday about how we can best help the Census Bureau reach its goal,” Bates said.

Recruitment of committee members is ongoing.

Committee members will not be in charge of census taking, but rather become a steering committee to advise census takers in order to get a more complete count.

“Committee members will not be involved in the actual census count. They will be serving in more of an advisory role, providing specific information about neighborhoods, educating the public, communicating with community leaders, church leaders, businesses, just to help encourage and reassure folks not only that their privacy will be protected, but also that by being counted, they can benefit their community in the long run,” said Bates.

Bates said while space is limited on the committee, he is hoping for more participation from community leaders and the private sector.

“Right now, we are also looking for people from the business community and the faith-based community. Those are sectors of the community that we are short of participation on right now. We have plenty of government participation right now, what we need is more private sector people to become involved,” Bates said.

He said those who are interested in service on the committee should get in contact with him before the meeting.

Bates said the county can only benefit from a successful and accurate census count.

“There are only two ways that a county government can raise the funds needed to provide citizens the services they need — through taxes and through grants. All county agencies are involved in intense competition for the grant dollars available. Practically all grants are awarded based on need. And practically all need, in this sense, is based on and measured by census numbers,” Bates said.

He said many citizens are fearful of being counted in the census, for reasons both rational and otherwise. He said they should be assured that their privacy will not be violated in the process. Census personnel are sworn to protect privacy, under penalty of fines and/or imprisonment.

“Citizens should be made aware of that, for their part, they have a responsibility to be counted, similar to the responsibility to vote or to pay taxes, because it enables the local government to provide needed services,” Bates said.

If the county’s residents are under counted, as Bates said they were 10 years ago, the county will continue to be handicapped in its competition for grant dollars and it will be more difficult for the county to keep the tax burden bearable for its citizens.

“To the extent that we can help the Census Bureau do its job from now until Census Day, April 1, 2010, we hopefully can ease the tax burden and improve our overall economy and quality of life over the next 10 years,” he said.

For more information on the census committee, call Kim Bates at 401-8350.