If not for federal money, thousands of Allen County Medicaid recipients would be hurting, major road projects would go undone and the poor would lose money for housing.

No doubt, when you’re talking about the federal government, you’re talking big bucks. And when it comes to dividing billions in federal dollars among states and communities, results from the 10-year census are often the gauge.

This week, households were notified that their census forms are on the way. In the next couple of weeks, citizens will mail back those forms. Many government agencies will analyze that information before handing out federal funds.

Some of that money is distributed based strictly on population totals. But for a large share of the distribution, the head count will be used as a foundation for yearly census estimates of such things as income and poverty. So for communities wanting their fair share, accuracy is essential.

“Some of the money comes directly to the city and other funds go to the state, which ultimately can benefit local residents,” said Rachel Blakeman, Fort Wayne city spokeswoman. “This is our once-in-a-decade chance to ensure that Fort Wayne gets the federal funding it deserves.”

The amount of federal money Allen County receives annually based on census figures is significant: $283.5 million in fiscal year 2008, according to a report this week by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., non-profit research think tank.

By comparison, property taxes levied by all government entities in the county totaled only slightly more: $322 million, said John Stafford, director of the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

With many types of funding tied to the population count, “the more we are appropriately counted,” Stafford said, “the better off we’ll be.”

In 2000, 76 percent of Indiana households – 77 percent in Ohio – responded to the census form. With a media blitz since January, the U.S. Census Bureau is hoping to top those numbers.

The Brookings study confirmed the link between the census and federal funding and found that increasing the Census 2010 response in areas likely to ignore the form will increase federal dollars.

The multiyear stimulus package enacted in 2009 increases the importance of an accurate census and the money tied to it, the study noted.

It found that 215 domestic programs used census data to distribute $446.7 billion in fiscal 2008, or 31 percent of all federal assistance. Most of it goes to states to hand out.

The largest share, by far, pays for Medicaid. Slightly more than half of the census-related funding – whether at the national, state or county level – goes to Medicaid, according to the study. Medicaid helps pay for health care for the needy, aged, blind and impaired. States determine eligibility, and the federal government reimburses a percentage of the costs.

The study uses Medicaid to emphasize the importance of being counted. For example, it found that less than a 1 percent increase in population from greater participation in the last census would have provided $4.4 million for an additional 6,249 Hoosier Medicaid recipients in 2008.

Second to Medicaid is money for transportation and highway construction. In Allen County, about one in five census-related dollars from the feds in fiscal year 2008 went to roads.

“Just to give you an idea, just about all of our major projects are funded through federal money,” said Bill Hartman, Allen County highway director.

The Maplecrest Road extension now under way, which will expand south over the Maumee River, would not have been possible. The Airport Expressway, Aboite Center Road widening and the new Bostick Road bridge are construction projects that would not have been done without federal dollars, Hartman said.

In addition, $7.4 million in federal stimulus money will pay for 62 miles of road resurfacing, he said.

“For the big improvements it’s essential,” he said.

Other federal money directed to Allen County based on census numbers goes to Section 8 housing vouchers, the WIC nutrition program for women, infants and children, Head Start and transit grants, among other programs.

“Locally the funding that is tied to the census data is critically important,” Blakeman said. “Two key areas are funding for health and social-service programs and improvements to our transportation network.”

Allen County ranks 126th among the nation’s 200 largest counties in per-capita federal spending based on census data. Money for counties, though, is likely understated because of the difficulty in following distributions by states to local communities, the study states.

Indiana ranks 41st in per-capita, census-related funding, according to the study. Ohio is 32nd.

Because money is often sent to states based on need, and not population, low funding reflects wealthier communities with less poverty. “Being in the top of that list isn’t in the best interest of your community,” Stafford said.

rshawgo@jg.net