NORWICH – In the discussion about hiring two caseworkers to relieve overtime stress-related turnover within the Social Services department, which the Chenango County Board of Supervisors agreed to do last week, lawmakers also questioned the need to hire more fraud investigators.
Both supervisors representing the City of Norwich said back in February that the quality of life in city neighborhoods would improve with more fraud detection. According to minutes of a Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 28, Supervisor Robert M. Jeffrey, Wards 4,5,6, and Supervisor James J. McNeil, Wards 1,2,3, asked whether criminal checks and drug testing occurred before individuals received assistance.
Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne said three fraud investigators were sufficient to handle the number of applications for services and the amount of cases of reported fraud has remained stable over the recent past. Osborne said fingerprinting is mandatory for cash assistance, but not criminal checks. Drug and alcohol assessments occur only if there is an indicator on an applicant’s questionnaire.
There were 140 applications for cash assistance in January, two-thirds of which were investigated, according to the minutes.
According to the Chenango County Sheriff’s annual report, eight people were arrested for welfare fraud in 2011 and approximately $30,000 was recovered. Osborne said 276 complaints regarding alleged fraud were investigated within the DSS Fraud Unit last year and an additional $194,994 recovered.
“Many times, the amounts are less than what the district attorney’s office will pursue, or the discrepancy was not intentional and we look at repayment plans or alternative means. Many investigations result in findings of no fraud and are unsubstantiated or dismissed,” she recently wrote in an email to The Evening Sun.
Osborne believes the reason for so many referrals is that the public doesn’t really understand the differences between cash assistance and SSI or Disability, neither of which DSS has any authority over.
“Also the eligibility requirements for Medicaid and food stamps are different than for cash assistance, but a lot of people just lump them all together,” she said.
The discussion about additional caseworkers came to light last fall when Osborne requested to contract with a collections agency in order to retrieve what is grown to approximately $1 million in debt owed to DSS. Much of the outstanding debt goes back a decade or more. The commissioner said some welfare recipients may be committing fraud, but others who receive emergency cash for heating, food, clothing or other emergencies often might not realize that they eventually have to pay the money back. Some grant recipients who really need the money could have changed their employment or ability to pay but haven’t informed DSS that they have changed their status. Or, DSS itself may not calculate the information received due to a back log of work.
Caseworkers regularly work 10 and 20 hours per week of mandated overtime and were too busy to do all of the collections, Osborne said. The caseworker positions created this month pay about $35,500 annually, plus benefits.