King County assessor attacks Trump’s proposed Census Bureau cuts

King County Assessor John Wilson criticized the Trump administration for proposed large cuts in the Census Bureau budget.

“The budget for the Census Bureau proposed by the Trump administration is completely inadequate and puts an accurate census at risk,” said Wilson, speaking on Sunday at the annual conference of the National Association of Counties in Columbus, Ohio. “Nearly $600 billion annually in federal funding is driven by census data, including programs related to health, housing, nutrition, employment, and education. County officials must contact members of Congress and urge them to fully fund the 2020 census.”

The Trump 2018 budget for the census proposes to spend $140 million less than what the Census Bureau requested for 2017, according to a media release from Wilson. In past decades the budget for the census has sometimes doubled between the year ending in 7 and the year ending in 8 as it ramps up for the decennial count.

Wilson made his remarks as part of a panel of county officials discussing the census. Wilson has a long history of leadership on this issue. He had been invited to be a panelist on the census by both the National Association of Counties, and the International Association of Assessing Officials. In 2010 the Census Bureau asked Wilson, as King County’s chief deputy assessor, to participate in a pilot program in support of their new TIGER system, which was designed to describe land attributes such as roads, buildings, rivers, and lakes.

“An accurate 2020 Census count is essential for counties,”Wilson said. “The most important use of the census is for apportionment of representatives in Congress, but Census data are used for planning and allocation of billions of dollars in federal and non-profit funding each year. In terms of fairness, democracy, opportunity and addressing the many issues the nation faces, a fair and accurate Census is paramount, and that won’t happen without adequate funding.”