By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- State blames some errors on having fewer employees checking applicants
- Some errors actually involve under-payments
- Hobbs office says it is dealing with the issue
It’s official, Arizona’s food stamp application error rate for the last budget year was higher than the national average, a fact that could cost the state $208 million in federal penalties.
New figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture put the total error rate for the state at 10.8%. That includes more than 8.6% in overpayments and almost 2.2% where recipients got less than the amount to which they were entitled.
That compares with the national rate of 10.6%.
That is significant because a provision in HR 1, the budget bill approved last year by Congress, says that states with error rates at 6% or more must start paying part of the costs associated with administering the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Insurance Program. Normally, all benefits are paid for by the federal government.
That penalty hits 5% of program costs for error rates up to 8%, 10% of costs when the error rate goes up to 10% — and 15% for rates higher than that. That’s where the estimate of a $208 million penalty comes in beginning in the 2027-2028 budget year.
