Commissioners threaten to ignore new food stamp eligibility rules

LISBON - A furor erupted last week over a jobless woman from southeastern Ohio receiving food stamps despite having a paid-off $311,000 home, $80,000 in savings and a Mercedes.

As incredible as it may sound, the same thing could occur in Columbiana County.

"If that were to happen here we'd be in the same position because of the eligibility requirements," said Eileen Dray-Bardon, executive director of the county Department of Job and Family Services.

The state changed the food stamp requirement rules last October to where only income is counted toward determining eligibility, and personal assets -such as homes, savings and vehicles- are excluded from the equation. Under the old criteria, any food stamp applicant with more than $2,000 in assets, excluding a car and home, was ineligible to receive benefits.

The unnamed woman from Warren County who lost her job is eligible to receive $500 a month in food stamps. The Warren County commissioners are threatening to ignore the new food stamp eligibility rules and they want the state legislature to return to using the previous requirements, while a state representative from the area intends to amend the state budget to prevent this from occurring again.

Dray-Bardon was worried a scenario like this might happen when the state changed the eligibility requirements.

"I kind of cringed when they made that change," she said.

The state made the change to bring the food stamp requirements in line with those used for determining eligibility for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor.

The gross-income limit for food-stamp recipients remains the same - 130 percent of the federal poverty level - which is $27,564 a year for a household of four. The maximum possible monthly food stamp benefit for this household would by $588.

There are 5,400 households and more than 12,000 people in the county currently receiving food stamps, and Dray-Bardon said few have any assets, let alone in the amount approaching the woman from Warren County.

"You just don't get that many people who have money in the bank who apply," she said. "Mostly, folks who come to our door wait as long as they can before they apply. That's usually what we see."

To make sure, Dray-Bardon asked her staff to check whether they had any recipients even close to the Warren County woman, and they did not. Food stamp applicants are not required to divulge their assets unless they are applying for other forms of public assistance, which is what occurred with this woman.

"The intent ... is to help what are perceived to be the needy people, and people with $80,000 in the bank are not needy," she said.

Food-stamp advocacy groups support eliminating the asset requirement, especially during the recession, because they say it helps people who lost their jobs buy groceries without first forfeiting their homes, cars and retirement accounts.

The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this story.