Kentucky's auditor just published a running tally of state benefit errors. It lands as the state dismantles its SNAP investigation team.
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Kentucky's state auditor has launched a public website that tracks how often the state processes benefit cases incorrectly, and her office is warning the state could owe millions in federal penalties because of it.
According to a September 22 press release, the Auditor of Public Accounts' new Public Benefit Error Rate Tracker displays monthly error rates and estimated wasted taxpayer dollars, as measured by the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman. The release says the error rates reflect how often a state agency processes a public benefit case incorrectly.
The tracker's page says the figures are updated monthly and calculated year to date. The release quotes Auditor Allison Ball saying all data was compiled using federally mandated calculations that the Beshear administration also implemented and approved for CHFS's internal error rate tracking.
What the tracker shows
The press release describes the SNAP figure as CHFS committing an error in 87.3% of cases, while the tracker page labels it "cases with error" and lists the payment error rate separately.
The $60 million warning
According to the tracker, Kentucky would face an additional penalty of roughly $60 million if its SNAP payment error rate stays above 6% but under 8%. The page says that penalty jumps to about $120 million at 8% and about $180 million at 10%. The press release says the state would have to draw an estimated $60 million from its own general fund to cover lost federal funding.
In a letter to Gov. Andy Beshear and CHFS Secretary Steven Stack, dated the same day, Ball writes that the Ombudsman has determined the administration is currently exceeding the 6% federal threshold. She says it used the same methodology the Ombudsman used when it was under the administration's authority. She writes that if the rate isn't brought below 6% before the end of the federal fiscal year, taxpayers will be "forced to foot a $60 million bill."
The letter also says Ball sent a notice on August 13 and received no acknowledgement and no corrective action plan. It says SNAP administration got worse afterward. The press release says the Ombudsman has made regular attempts to alert CHFS to the problem. It also says Ball has found major issues in CHFS's administration of SNAP, Medicaid, and the Medicare Savings Program over the past year.
"High error rates harm both the Kentuckians who rely on these programs and the taxpayers who fund them," Ball said in the release.
The tracker came out less than a week after I reported that Kentucky is dismantling its statewide SNAP fraud and overpayment investigation unit.
Shay McAlister
CHFS confirmed the reorganization and said it followed budget cuts from the General Assembly. It said fraud detection and overpayment review are the responsibility of "numerous DCBS staff." It didn't say who takes over the open cases.
The auditor's documents don't mention the reorganization, and I'm not suggesting a direct link. But the tracker measures the kind of agency errors that investigators told me make up a large share of their caseloads.
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