This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 15, 2009 - Since 2002, the state of Missouri has received roughly $14 million in federal bonus payments as a reward for the state's high participation rate -- 98 percent -- among residents who qualify for the federal food stamp program.
That money, and perhaps even more, may have to be repaid now that the state Department of Social Services has determined that Missouri has inflated its food-stamp participation for years. This news comes as the state continues to grapple with the impact of lower tax revenue and repeated budget cuts.
Department officials blame a glitch in a computer program.
But the fallout is serious. Instead of 98 percent, which was the highest reported in the nation, Missouri's actual food-stamp participation is more likely in the 70-percent range, state officials acknowledged Monday.
Scott Rowson, a spokesman for the state's Department of Social Services, confirmed the $14 million in faulty bonus payments Tuesday, a day after the department sent a letter outlining the error to federal officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program.
Other bonus payments rewarding other aspects of the food stamp program are not at risk, Rowson said.
A regional USDA spokeswoman said the bonus payments for high participation amounted to more than $8.7 million just since 2006, and that federal officials were still compiling all the figures.
Will Missouri have to repay the money? "Our national office is looking into the matter,'' said regional spokeswoman Anjali Budhiraja.
Read the Beacon's earlier story below.
That old saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,'' apparently applies to Missouri's status in a recent study that showed the state has been providing food stamps to 98 percent of those eligible.
That 98 percent was the highest percentage participation in the country, garnering national praise.
The truth, however, is that Missouri's participation percentage is somewhere in the 70-percent range, a spokesman for the state Department of Social Services confirmed Monday.
Text of today's letter
Letter sent Dec. 14 to the regional administrator of the USDA - Food and Nutrition Service in Denver:
I am writing to notify you of a reporting discrepancy that our research concludes has been occurring since September 2002. This discrepancy was identified last week, and the faulty program which caused the error is being corrected.
In responding to recent data requests an error was discovered in the program utilized to compile participant counts for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in Missouri.
This error only impacts participant counts for reporting purposes. Our research has confirmed that the value of food benefits and household count reported to FNS is correct. Also, this error does not result in unqualified persons receiving benefits.
The programming error impacts the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) reports FNS 388 and FNS 388A. The error results in persons who are no longer receiving benefits to continue to be counted as though they are.
For example:
Household count = 1
Participant count = 4 (Mother, Father, 2 children)
Reported on FNS388 and FNS388A as household count of 1, participant count of 4
Then one of the children leaves the home and no longer receives SNAP benefits. The program should report household count of 1 and participant count of 3; however, the program actually reports household count of 1 and participant count of 4.
The discrepancy in count from month to month is relatively small. However, because this error has persisted over the last seven years, the error results in an over-counting of the number of Missourians receiving SNAP benefits. In September of 2009, we reported participants of 1,119,067. A preliminary recalculation after discovering the error indicates the count of participants should have been reported as 855,408.
I would like to discuss this issue with you or your designee in more detail at your earliest convenience. I will be in contact with you to arrange a time for discussion.
Sincerely,
Alyson Campbell
Division Director
AC:dk
And Missouri has apparently been overcounting its food-stamp participation for years.
According to a letter that the state sent Monday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, a glitch in a computer program has caused the state to inflate the number of its food-state participants since 2002.
That means the mistake spanned two governors -- former Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat who took office in 2001, and former Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican who took office in 2005.
The current governor, Democrat Jay Nixon, took office last January.
State Department of Social Services spokesman Scott Rowson said the problem was "a discrepancy in the coding."
The glitch caused the state to continue to count people who no longer obtain food stamp aid. According to state figures, the number of Missourians obtaining food stamps in September 2009 figure, for example, should have been listed as 855,408. Instead, it was reported as 1,119,067.
The true percentage has yet to be compiled, said Rowson, but he acknowledged that it would fall somewhere in the 70-percent range.
But he emphasized in an interview that the error applies only to the reported percentages; no ineligible person is getting food stamps, Rowson said.
The error was discovered, Rowson said, when department employees were collecting food-stamp data to comply with two recent requests for information -- one from an academic researcher, and the other from The New York Times, which recently published a national story focusing on food-stamp participation around the country.
A couple weeks ago, The Times put Missouri in the spotlight as the state with the best success in reaching people who qualify for food stamp aid.
That's obviously not the case, although Rowson said the true percentage will likely keep Missouri within the top one-third of states.
Rowson said the mistake was confirmed late last week, and that Gov. Jay Nixon's office was notified. "They said, 'Fix it, and get (the news) out,' " Rowson said.
The Department of Social Services didn't make the problem and the letter public until shortly before 5 p.m. Monday. Rowson said there was "nothing nefarious" in the timing.
