DOBSON — Surry Countians are running ahead of the state and country in returning 2010 Census forms as a deadline nears for the mail-response portion of the nationwide head count.

Some North Carolina citizens might mistakenly think the deadline has passed for sending back the questionnaires, which a census official says is due to inaccurate media reports — including one by an area television station during the weekend.

“April 1 is not the deadline for returning census questionnaires,” said Tony Jones, a U.S. Census Bureau spokesman in Charlotte. “April 1 is merely the reference point people should use when filling out their forms.”

In documenting the number of persons in his or her household, therefore, someone completing the census form should list those living there as of that benchmark date of April 1, 2010.

The actual deadline is April 22, which means there is still time for citizens to mail in forms. After that, however, those who haven’t done so will be placed on a list of households to be contacted in the next phase of the census, a door-to-door count that is costly in terms of both money and time.

That Non Response Follow Up (NRFU) operation, which will include census takers visiting homes to collect information, begins May 1 and continues through July 10, according to Jones.

With more than a week remaining until the April 22 target date, census officials are mounting a final push to solicit as many mail-response forms as possible, the latest step in an intense publicity campaign. The Census Bureau saves about $85 million in operational costs for every 1 percent increase in the national mail response.

As of Monday, 70 percent of Surry County households had returned census questionnaires to the government, compared to 67 percent for North Carolina and 65 percent nationally. The final mail-participation rate is expected to be about 73 percent for the country as a whole.

The level for the town of Dobson had been lagging behind other municipalities in Surry, standing at 57 percent on April 5. However, that had improved to 63 percent as of Monday. Elkin is leading the way at 72 percent.

While participation in the decennial census is required by law, there’s no late-filing penalty as there is with mailing in tax returns after the deadline.