Friday March 29th, 2024 4:52AM

Food stamp distribution errors cost Ga. millions

By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) -- State officials are faced with addressing a growing rate of errors in Georgia's food stamp distribution system.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that Georgia spent about $138 million in overpayments to benefit recipients in 2013 and risks an outside intervention since the program is federally funded. Several factors may be contributing to the overpayments.

The newspaper reports Georgia's error rate was 3.18 percent in 2012 and 4.99 percent in 2013. A month's worth of data in 2014 showed an error rate of 5.5 percent.

Georgia Department of Family and Children Services spokeswoman Ashely Fielding says the agency doesn't have enough staff to deal with the number of applications for assistance, which have risen since the economic downturn.

The newspaper reports that overpayments have resulted in underpayments to some recipients.
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