In Defense of a Preoccupation With Numbers

his rejoinder illustrates the kind of dogmatic reaction to criticism that one would expect from a data-gathering agency that successfully resisted, for so long, suggestions that it reevaluate its methods for defining and counting special purpose governments. The size and seriousness of the Census Bureau's effort, and the wide reliance on its definitions and data by researchers and professional groups, are cited as evidence sufficient to dismiss as inappropriate any criticism of the Bureau's approach. In my view, it is precisely this scope and wide reliance that make a thorough evaluation of the Census Bureau's approach important, and long overdue. The rejoinder dismisses the criticisms of the Bureau in my paper on the grounds that they stem from trivial concerns, a general misunderstanding of the Bureau's purposes, an outdated preoccupation with the numbers, etc. But virtually none of the facts or figures identified in my paper are disputed. For example, my conclusion that the Bureau seriously overcounts functionally active special districts is rejected as a trivial concern; no mention is made of the analysis showing that 24 percent of the 7,000 special districts examined reported no expenditures, or that 65 percent of all special districts counted as active by the Bureau have neither full-time nor part-time employees (according to the Bureau's own figures). My conclusion that the Bureau's classification criteria lead to a significant undercounting of certain kinds of special districts is dismissed on the grounds that similar criteria are used in GASB financial reporting requirements and the Single Audit Act. Even if the value of the criteria could be determined by counting the number of groups using them, the criteria are applied differently by these other groups than they are by the Bureau. For example, a state may classify some special districts as components for financial reporting purposes, but the information reported on those units is separate and identifiable-not blended in indistinguishable fashion with information on general government finances, as it is in Census Bureau reports. My analysis indicates that 42 percent (or $13 billion) of special district debt issued for public works purposes is attributed incorrectly by the Bureau to general purpose governments. Neither the fact nor the size of this attribution (which also involves special district revenues and expenditures) is reported or fully explained in Census Bureau publications. The rejoinder's claim that the Bureau has specified how its criteria have been implemented in detail on a state-by-state basis is

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