Area businesses will soon receive a Census questionnaire that must be returned by mid-February

The U.S. Census Bureau is urging Bristol-area businesses to fill out and submit a 2007 Economic Census form before the Feb. 12 deadline.

Every five years, the census bureau request the forms – which ask for specifics about employment, payroll and value of goods – so government officials can take a snapshot of America’s business climate and better determine gross domestic product.

According to a census bureau news release, more than 4 million American businesses will be mailed the forms next month, including roughly 1,300 in the Twin City.

"Basically, this is giving you economic data on the local level and will let [business owners] know where you stand on market share, employment level," Chris Blackburn, a census spokesman.

Blackburn said it takes a while for the bureau to get all the forms back, and a reason for the February deadline.

Although there’s a deadline, some businesses still don’t respond on time, he said.

Businesses are required by law to respond. The information will be kept confidential and only basic industry-wide data will be published, the news release states.

Failure to fill out and send the forms could result in a $500 fine per page of incomplete information. There’s also a $10,000 fine for sending false information.

"Some businesses do request time extensions, and we try to work with that," Blackburn said.

The information submitted from area companies will be used to provide Americans with business-related facts and will also give entrepreneurs the statistics they need when considering whether to expand or open a new business, including market shares, salaries, product and sales trends and site locations.

Ike Mumpower, the owner of Mumpower Sign Supply in Bristol, Va., said he remembers seeing the economic census form in years past. He plans to fill out the 2007 form once it arrives, he said.

"We haven’t got ours yet, but when we do, if it has something required by law to do, we’ll fill it out and send it," Mumpower said.

Lisa Meadows, Bristol’s Chamber of Commerce director, said she encourages Twin City businesses to submit the census data.

"Most of the chambers and economic development entities in our area are encouraging business to fill that out because many times when people look at that data it determines if the community will receive grant money," she said.

"We do feel that it’s very important for businesses to fill it out – the more data we have, it makes it better for chambers to use to our advantage."

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