BUFFALO, N.Y. — The clock is ticking.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Supreme Court approved the Trump Administration's request to suspend a lower court ruling that extended the county until the end of the month
  • Government officials are concerned about future funding as Buffalo's census response rate is low
  • If the city is under counted, that could mean the loss of millions of dollars for funding in various programs
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This year's 2020 census ends in less than 24 hours, which is two weeks earlier than planned.

The U.S. Supreme Court approved the Trump Administration's request to suspend a lower court ruling that extended the county until the end of the month.

Government officials are concerned about future funding as Buffalo's census response rate is low.

This year's census response rate in Buffalo is significantly lower compared to when it was when last conducted in 2010.

"The only information that we have is the self-response rate so we're looking at just over 50 percent of the households in Buffalo that have been counted," said Jessica Lazarin, the director for Buffalo Office of New Americans.

If the city is under counted, that could mean the loss of millions of dollars.

"We are definitely concerned that we are going to miss out on federal funding for various programming in the city of Buffalo and we can't calculate what we will need over the next 10 years if we don't have an accurate count," Lazarin said.

The census can be done over the phone, online or by mail. It's a short series of questions that's used to decide how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed for services we use every day. Health clinics, school lunch programs, disaster recovery initiatives, and other critical programs that could be needed within the next 10 years.

"For every person that is counted, it equates to $3,700, so multiply that by 100 and you could see that we could buy enough laptops for a whole fifth grade class at multiple school districts," State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples Stokes said.

Stokes tells Spectrum News it's disheartening that community members are not fighting for what they deserve within their neighborhoods.

She's also upset by the U.S. Supreme Court decision to approve the Trump Administration's request to suspend a lower court ruling that extended the counting process until the end of October.

"The fact that a government, a federal government that has constitutional responsibility to provide service to people, doesn't want to know that number is mind bottling to me,” she said.

For those who haven't completed the census, there is still time. You have until 11:59 p.m. October 15. As long as it's in by then, it will be accepted.