Fewer than 100 people in Genesee County who are able-bodied adults are on welfare Eileen Kirkpatrick, commissioner of Social Services locally, told members of the legislature on Monday.
"The idea or belief that Genesee County has a huge cadre of its citizens just sitting around collecting welfare is a myth," Kirkpatrick said.
There are currently 626 people receiving cash assistance, and 348 of them are children, Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick presented her report to the county legislature during its Human Services Committee meeting.
Of the 278 adults receiving cash assistance, 179 of them are not considered employable. These are people who may be awaiting SSI benefits determinations or have temporary illness or injuries that keep them from working.
Of the able-bodied adults receiving cash assistance, many of them have jobs but do not earn enough money to fully support themselves. They get a small, partial grant, Kirkpatrick said.
The able-bodied adults who don't work are required to do volunteer labor with various local nonprofit agencies.
All able-bodied adults receiving assistance are required to take classes or get job training that may help them get better paying jobs.
There are two types of cash assistance. There is a 60-month Family Assistance program that is funded by the federal government. The benefit was capped at 60 months by the Clinton Administration.
But, according to the state constitution, DSS is required to provide ongoing cash assistance to individuals who qualify once Family Assistance runs out.
The second program that provides ongoing assistance is called Safety Net.
The cost of the Safety Net program is largely shouldered by county taxpayers. The state pays for only 29 percent of the program. The county pays 71 percent.
"The Safety Net program is mandated, yet localities have little or no control over the provisions of benefits, short of detecting fraud," Kirkpatrick said. "The state defines what must be funded, but has decreased their support for funding the program."
The county currently handles 158 Safety Net cases, serving 189 individuals.
That's an increase from 2010 when there were 108 cases, serving 138 people.
Family Assistance cases increased during the same period from 152 to 177.
Kirkpatrick said the increase is a result of the recession taking a bit of a toll on Genesee County.
From 2008 to 2010, Genesee was the only county in the state that actually saw a decrease in the number of people receiving temporary assistance.
Another myth Kirkpatrick said she wanted to dispel was that people getting food stamps don't have jobs.
Of the 2,888 households in Genesee County receiving food stamps, Kirkpatrick said, 72 percent have at least one adult who has a job.
The program brings more than $9 million into Genesee County, Kirkpatrick said, all of it federal dollars.
"A lot of folks don't realize there is no local share," Kirkpatrick said. "They think they see people with food stamps buying fancy steaks and lobster at Tops, or going to the 7-11 and buying surgary drinks and junk food, but there's no local cost to the benefit."
Food stamps are supposed to supplement a family or individual food budget, but DSS is seeing more cases, Kirkpatrick said, of recipients relying entirely on food stamps for their meals.
"Although the program is meant to supplement a family's nutrition, surgary sodas and cereals, candy and snacks, pre-packaged food and other unwise purchases are allowed," Kirkpatrick said. "While the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program is made available to recipients, they cannot be mandated to attend."
The local cost for the food stamp program is in administration, and the state is covering less and less of that expense.
Currently, the county spends $542,505 on food stamp administration and gets $49,041 from the state.
Administration costs are also going up as the state encourages more and more people to sign up for the benefit.
Kirkpatrick said there is one group of Genesee County residents who may not be taking full advantage of the food stamp program -- seniors.
Only 451 people in Genesee County age 65 or older receive food stamps. Kirkpatrick said -- especially since eligibility is based on income, not resources -- many more local seniors probably qualify for the program than are using it.
ILLUSTRATION: A graphic that has been making the rounds on Facebook the past couple of weeks.
It is good to see some
It is good to see some statistics showing that social programs are doing what they were intended for. Although one case of abuse is too much.
My HSA card (and previous FSA card) were both tied to the SKU of items I purchased which in turn tied them to "allowed" and "not allowed" lists as published by the health insurance company. Why can't EBT / welfare cards be tied in such a way as to keep purchases legit? (Although there is always a way around the system mostly due to the people accepting the cards for just about any item a person can sell this might be a step)
Of the 2,888 households in
Of the 2,888 households in Genesee County receiving food stamps, Kirkpatrick said, 72 percent have at least one adult who has a job.
The program brings more than $9 million into Genesee County, Kirkpatrick said, all of it federal dollars.
"A lot of folks don't realize there is no local share," Kirkpatrick said. "They think they see people with food stamps buying fancy steaks and lobster at Tops, or going to the 7-11 and buying surgary drinks and junk food, but there's no local cost to the benefit."
Ummm.....
The local cost for the food stamp program is in administration, and the state is covering less and less of that expense.
Currently, the county spends $542,505 on food stamp administration and gets $49,041 from the state.
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I'm confused. In one sentence she said there no local cost to the benefit and then the report states that the county spends about half of a million dollars to administrate food stamps. Anyone else?
I'll have to re-read this about 20 times to digest all of the overlapping information. It appears that there are so many parts to different types of assistance and where the money comes from. It's very confusing and what It makes me come away with is a feeling that a lot of the money gets chewed up in administrative costs to government employees before anyone realizes a dime of "help."
And of COURSE there's a local
And of COURSE there's a local share of those federal dollars, Eileen Kirkpatrick! I'm pretty sure everyone here pays federal taxes!
Doug ... $9 million in
Doug ... $9 million in benefits.
Administration is not a benefit.
Benefits are wholly covered by the federal government.
Hope that clarifies at least that point.
I got that part, but I still
I got that part, but I still don't agree with it. Anyone locally who pays Federal taxes has a cost associated with those benefits. It's misleading for Eileen Kirkpatrick to say that there's no local cost.
Maybe I'm just nitpicking but
Maybe I'm just nitpicking but I know the federal dollars don't come out of Obama's own pocket!
Yes, I'm feisty this morning
Yes, I'm feisty this morning
Doug, from a county
Doug, from a county administrator POV, anything that doesn't come out of local tax dollars (meaning property tax and local sales tax), is a good thing.
There's no local control over mandated programs.
And, it's not misleading at
And, it's not misleading at all.
Local share means something very specific: Coming out of the county budget.
This isn't like some politician -- and we've seen them do it -- saying, "we should do this because it doesn't cost us anything locally."
This is an administrator talking about a mandated program.
Understood..these topics just
Understood..these topics just aggravate me, though. They make me feel as though I'm being led down the rabbit hole.
Okay, thank you for
Okay, thank you for explaining it to me like that. Put down the coffee mug, Doug, and back away..... :-p
I'm wondering what the
I'm wondering what the definition of "able bodied" is. How is it determined? There's man who is disabled because of a 'bad back" then spent months re-habbing his house, self-installing carpet etc. Or the woman with 6 kids in 6 years. Does she qualify because the cost of child care out weighs any earnings from a job? I think these scenarios tend to make a tax payer cringe even if they are few and far between.
Eileen asked me to
Eileen asked me to clarify:
"Maybe you could also mention in your comments that one of the FIRST things I said during my presentation to the Legislators was that I recognize, as a taxpayer, that whenever something is funded through local or State or Federal tax dollars, it ALL comes out of our resident's pockets...just different pockets. My presentation was solely focused on local share dollars that are in our Genesee County property tax."
I see a biger problem , and
I see a biger problem , and its not who or how many use it . It is what they can buy and from where. These corner stores jack up prices and have mostly junk food to buy and that is where I see a majority of the benefits are used for junk food and pop . So we are paying for the health costs tied to with bad habits and healthy food choices . I would like to see a limit on how much crap food with no nutrition value . Also a far market price on all goods that are bougt by a benefit card and maybe a food link with our portion farms that are gaining popularity for good food at a huge discount .
The program brings more than
The program brings more than $9 million into Genesee County, Kirkpatrick said, all of it federal dollars....But the county has to spend , $542,505 on food stamp administration..Those administrations cost seem out of line..And a cost that the county should be better able to get a handle on..To spend a half a million dollars to hand out 9 million seems high to me... Maybe Kirkpatrick could explain that cost better.......I agree with Doug it is all tax payer money....Out of 58,000 county residents how many get some sort of assistance from Kirkpatrick's Dept.........Seems like the county does have control on how much is has to spend to administer all these welfare programs.......What is the total budget for welfare in Genesse County.....We do need to help those that need it..But the county needs to also do everything to keep those cost of giving that money down..Some of the highest salary's in the County come from her Dept.....
Thomas, How do you determine
Thomas,
How do you determine "fair market value"? Who gets to determine it and what limits would there be?
I have no idea if this is
I have no idea if this is correct, but it sounds like it could be true.
Removed, found to be untrue.
Ron, this was an Internet
Ron, this was an Internet chain email, while parts of the premise may have some validity, it really is not based in fact. I have seen it in emails before, ironically they begin to circulate after the Octa Mom deal in California.
The folowing was in the Waco
The folowing was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, Texas 18 Nov. 2010. *NOTE*- I AM NOT THE AUTHOR !! I re-print it here for your enjoyment.
Put me in charge
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50 pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese, and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and froozen pizza... get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth controll implants or tubal ligations. Then we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings... get a job.
Put me in charge of goverment housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your "home" will be subjet to inspections anytime, and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360... get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "goverment" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, what ever we find for you. We will sell your 22" rims and low profile tires and your blasting stero and speakers and put that money toward the "common good".
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules... Before you say this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "sef esteem", consider that it wasn't long ago when taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
Alfred W. Evans, Gatesville, Texas
Ron, what you did there was
Ron, what you did there was copy and paste the text from a chain email/forum comment that's been making the rounds. It has no discernible source and lacks any form of credibility. It's like Reagan's welfare queen who never actually existed.
Congratulations, you're a lemming. You were presented in the article with facts that don't support your opinions, but here you are ranting away.
Whoa - come up for air. I
Whoa - come up for air. I will say that I am seeing more stories in the local news about prosecuting people who are receiving "assistance from DSS" when they are not entitled to it. I don't mind as a taxpayer paying for "administration" if it means the people are being diligent in finding out who is collecting benefits when they shouldn't. Ok I do mind our high taxes but hopefully you know what I mean. Having people on the county payroll doing this investigating is worth their salaries compared to the $$$ others get fraudulently.
http://www.factcheck.org/2010
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/12/fostering-a-fortune/
Explains in detail Ron's email he saw.
Cheryl, Like I said, parts of
Cheryl, Like I said, parts of that have validity, but the entire post was an Internet chain email without basis infact. The problem with any government program is that individuals learn to game the system, with that I agree.
Chris, sometimes being a 'Human Torpedo' may be just a bit inappropriate, calling someone on fact is one thing, name calling and pretty much insulting a person for a post (Which he preambled with 'I have no Idea if this is true.....' is another.
I don't respect absurdities
I don't respect absurdities or the people who perpetuate them.
Why thank you chris, Its been
Why thank you chris, Its been a long time that I have had such a compliment, you are a true gentleman :>)
Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic, in tundra biomes. They are subniveal animals, and together with voles and muskrats, they make up the subfamily Arvicolinae,
love it
love it
wheres the like icon
wheres the like icon thing..the thumbs up thing....wanted to "like" what Rickey Hale posted
oh ya make the women take the
oh ya make the women take the birth control -- while men have several and i mean several children and don't have to take care of any of them cause they find another girl to support them -- no job no support to pay -- then dss makes these women look for jobe -- not a problem -but then these kids are housed in childcare -- which costs a fortune-i know u will say then make her take birth control but really where are u men and why can't u stand up and be men -- seems women once again have to take care of men and their offspring---