(Picture credit Douglas County Board of Commissioners)
OMAHA — The Douglas County Board of Commissioners will take action in next Tuesday’s meeting regarding a resolution responding to Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Foley’s analysis and criticisms of its general assistance program for poor residents.
Two weeks ago, Foley told The Plains Sentinel that the program was “a debacle” after an audit of the multi-million-dollar effort raised myriad concerns over where recipients were actually spending their taxpayer-funded assistance.
“I think this program is an assault on the property taxpayers of Douglas County,” Foley said. “It costs the county taxpayers 74 cents to give away a dollar, and much of that dollar is being wasted on alcohol, tobacco, candy, toys, and so forth.”
Evidently, Douglas County disagrees – the resolution notes that currently available audit information “finds no evidence or allegations of criminal wrongdoing.” Furthermore, it notes that it has successfully reduced the cost to direct aid to 50 cents per dollar.
In comparison, the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program had nearly 94% of its spending go directly towards households, while federal and state administrative costs made up the remaining 6%.
The main source of concern is the program’s means of assistance: in the past four years, it has given nearly 26,000 dollar store gift cards to poor residents.
Oversight for gift card usage is notably poor – Foley stated his office had to attain records from the dollar stores themselves to find how the cards were being spent, and worse yet, there is no way to verify who used them.
“Their records are abysmal,” Foley said.
Foley’s office investigated 100 gift cards with identified red flags, and found that 24% of funds were used for non-qualifying and unapproved purchases – including tobacco and alcohol products. Such purchases were not merely prohibited but supposed to be impossible.
“The County utilized Dollar General gift cards at a time when Dollar General did not sell tobacco or alcohol products,” the Douglas County resolution reads. “But because Dollar General cannot enforce point-of-sale item restrictions, the County and General Assistance Department are transitioning away from Dollar General to contract with a vendor capable of restricting purchases exclusively to approved items.”
It is unclear whether they have found that vendor – shortly after the initial report, General Assistance director Melissa Sewick told The Plains Sentinel that Walmart had emerged as a candidate capable of said restrictions but was “unable or unwilling” to accommodate.
Foley’s report recommended the county take extra steps to verify program eligibility by corroborating with state benefit systems. The county’s resolution observes that such a step has become increasingly difficult to take:
“Douglas County has progressively lost access to state and public data systems used to independently verify applicant income and program participation.”
The resolution states it would welcome renewed collaboration with the state and affirms its “unwavering commitment” to maintaining safety-net services and “strong support” of the General Assistance Department.
The resolution has been sponsored by all seven commissioners and will likely be adopted in Tuesday’s meeting.
— Lewis Thune is a College Fix writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.
They refuse to admit they are aiding dependency and dependency leads to slavery.