ANDERSON, Ind. — Local officials and community leaders should be gearing up for the 2010 census, as it could have a major impact on future federal funding and congressional districts, a local legislator said.

State Sen. Tim Lanane, who represents Anderson and much of Madison County, said state lawmakers already have been attending conferences and planning how to stress the importance of completing the census to their constituents.

“Our community really needs to get educated on that,” Lanane said. “(Legislators) should maybe take the lead on trying to get that done.”

The census, which occurs every 10 years and attempts to count every person in the country, will help federal agencies decide how many federal dollars to which individual states and localities are entitled, figures that often are based on population. Lanane said every year the federal government allocates about $300 billion based on census data.

“It’s something we do need to be prepared for,” he said. “It gets back to this idea of getting our fair share from the federal government. I think that’s really what it’s all about.”

Meanwhile, members of the Indiana General Assembly will use the data in 2011 to redraw congressional district maps based on population and, possibly, political information. The Indiana Constitution directs the General Assembly to make the maps but offers little else by way of instructions, Lanane said.

Some, such as Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, have called for legislators to disregard political information obtained by the census when they draw the new districts in an effort to prevent drawing districts according to party lines. Lanane, however, said he would support a measure to draw the districts using political information to make sure the districts represented both major parties as equally as possible.

“I personally think that should be something we should perhaps take a look at,” Lanane said. “I think you can draw maps that are a little bit competitive too.”

Although census forms won’t be mailed to households until February and March, the U.S. Census Bureau now is preparing for next year’s count. Local offices have opened around the state, and more are in the works, including the office traditionally called the Anderson office that will be located in Muncie this year.

Carol Rogers, deputy director of the Indiana Business Research Center, said she didn’t know why the office was moved to Muncie this year and called the disconnect between the name of the office and its location “jarring.” She suspected the move was a way to handle both the major cities in Indiana’s Congressional District 6.

The Anderson office in Muncie is in the city’s new development, The Shoppes at Southside, near the southside Walmart. Muncie Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Economic Development Terry Murphy said that location would have the parking needed by the local office and was in a new development that was easily remodeled. The location also is easily reachable from both Anderson and Muncie, he said.

“The timing happened to be right on that, and it was a good match and good proximity to the area that they’re serving,” Murphy said. “I know they looked at a lot of properties, and it was a long process.”

The Muncie Chamber did not help the Census Bureau find its Muncie office, Murphy said.

Local census offices manage the collection of census questionnaires in each region, as well as the door-to-door count that is done with households that fail to return the forms, Rogers said.

“There is much work to do to ensure that the post office, local leaders and group quarters institutions are informed and also counted,” Rogers said via e-mail. “There is also the issue of following up for non-responding households, which then takes quite a few employees to go door-to-door.”