LAGUNA HILLS : Leisure World Frets Over Census Address

The U.S. Census office in Irvine has been peppered with complaints in recent days from Leisure World residents who are worried about being counted as residents of Laguna Beach because the coastal city’s name appears on census questionnaires delivered to the retirement community over the weekend.

Numerous residents called the census office to complain about the mailing labels, but census officials said the Laguna Beach address will not undermine an accurate count.

With the census serving as the method for figuring political apportionment and the distribution of federal tax dollars across the country, some Leisure World residents were worried that they might come out on the short end if they were incorrectly tallied.

William Bellamy, Irvine district manager for the census, said that residents of Leisure World, which is located in unincorporated county territory here, were given the Laguna Beach address to help facilitate the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery of the forms. The labels had correct addresses and ZIP codes, he added.

Despite the mailing label, the Leisure World residents will not be counted as part of Laguna Beach, Bellamy said. Instead, the Census Bureau will count the questionnaires based on an individual code that appears on each mailing label.

The code lists a number for the local census district, the respondent’s address and block number.

Bellamy said he has notified workers manning the district’s telephone assistance lines to assure residents that they will be correctly counted.

“It’s not a big deal,” Bellamy said. “The one good thing about this is it shows that people are really conscious about the census. They’re paying attention to everything. We encourage them to call with their questions.”

Bellamy said the Irvine office, which serves all of South County, has the highest return rate of census forms of any of the four offices in Orange County. As of Tuesday, Irvine had received back about 80,000 of the 250,000 census forms that were mailed out to households in the district. The Santa Ana office had the lowest return rate, with only about 10,000 trickling in as of Tuesday.