CENSUS BUREAU OFFICE ESTABLISHED IN AREA.

Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Emphasizing the importance of an accurate census count, officials opened the Glendale-Burbank Local Census Office on Friday.

In the kickoff ceremony, politicians espoused the benefits of a complete count for the first census of the millennium.

``This count determines everything; everything our future funding is going to be, what our boundaries are going to be,'' said Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Glendale. ``This is going to be a monumental task.''

Census data is used for decision-making at all levels of government - drawing federal, state and local legislative districts; budget planning; distribution of federal funds; and dozens of other uses, census officials said.

Undercounting the population could mean losing federal dollars and not giving communities the services they need.

``If we have an undercount, it hurts us more than statistically,'' said U.S. Rep. James Rogan, R-Pasadena. ``It hurts us politically. It hurts us economically. It hurts us socially.''

In 1990, Californians were undercounted by almost 850,000 people. More people were missed in California than any other state, said Assemblyman Jack Scott, D-Pasadena.

That has cost the state $2.2 billion in federal funding and two seats in Congress over the past 10 years, he said.

Fear of giving the government private information and ignorance about the census keeps people from completing the form, officials said. But they hope to combat that this year by launching community outreach efforts to teach people about the census.

Programs are in the works for schoolchildren, community service organizations and other groups. Scott has set up a task force to help the information effort.

The goal of the Glendale-Burbank Local Census Office is to have a complete and accurate count, said Robert Benedict, office manager.

Nearly 50 office workers and an expected 700 field workers will be charged with the duty of fulfilling the goal. Nationwide, there are 500 such census offices.

``It's a huge task. It's a daunting task,'' Scott said. ``I'm sure we'll miss some but it's a legitimate goal. We ought not to rest until we try to reach everyone.''

Beginning in mid-March, census questionnaires will be mailed out and are due by April 1, which is the national deadline. Between April and June, census takers will visit houses that did not return forms.

By November, all field work is expected to be complete. And on the last day of the year, the apportionment counts will be delivered to President Clinton.

The Glendale-Burbank Local Census Office will count residents in those cities as well as Universal City, parts of North Hollywood, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Sunland and a small portion of Pasadena.

For information, call [phone], or visit their Web site at www.census.gov.