Wrong Towns on Census Forms
NEW BERLIN - Census forms began arriving in the mail and there's already a problem.
Nearly 40,000 people live in New Berlin and the mayor wants every one of them counted.
But when the census forms arrived in the mail Monday, thousands of New Berlin residents were incorrectly identified as Waukesha residents.
Dennis Nevinski noticed the mistake on his census form right away.
"It says Waukesha and I live in New Berlin," Nevinski said.
The same thing happened to Jeff Chase.
"It should say New Berlin that's where I live," Chase explained.
Even the mayor of New Berlin has a census form that says he lives in Waukesha.
"It's very disturbing, we are getting a lot of calls and people are very upset," said Mayor Jack Chiovatero.
Upset because census numbers can influence federal aid.
"I'm stunned, I'm concerned. I want to make sure we get the allotted money we are owed."
What really has the mayor steamed is that the government is spending millions of dollars to promote the census forms but the reason New Berlin isn't on the form is to save money in the mailing of it.
"They are telling me as a cost saving move, obviously for postage," said Mayor Chiovatero. "It's a distribution center issue."
Mayor Chiovatero supports efforts to promote filling out the forms but he wonders if the census people got their priorities straight.
We've got T-shirts to be counted, said the mayor. When asked how many he said,"Cases!"
No one from the Census Bureau called us back to clarify what happened.
The mayor is worried people will throw out the form. Don't! The bar code and zip code on the form accurately represents the city you live in, so fill it out and send it in.
We are also hearing from people in Franklin, St. Francis, Wauwatosa and Pewaukee with the wrong address.
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