The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

After months of trying to get residents to fill out their census forms, Columbia County has made very little progress. We are ranked 24 out of 39 counties in self-response rates. 

Why does this matter? Because federal funds (the tax dollars we’ve paid to the IRS each year) are sent back to states, counties, and cities based on population numbers as tracked by the Census. The number of representatives we have in Congress is also based on Census numbers. Millions of dollars are at stake for Columbia County, dollars that would be used for county roads, city streets, mental health, education...