The state's attempt to recover welfare and food stamp overpayments from more than a decade ago "is
simply bad policy and does not benefit anyone,"a leading consortium of advocates for the poor said today.

“The state is basically penalizing the poor for the state’s mistakes,” said Philip E. Cole,
executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, in a release. “The cost of
collecting these 20-year-old funds could amount to more than the state actually collects.

"It also takes money out of circulation within the economy. Money that would normally be spent at
stores for food and other goods, stimulating the economy, is now being sent to the state to cover
their error.”

The Dispatch reported earlier this week that the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services sent out overpayment notices to around 14,000 Ohioans who purportedly received an overpayment  as much as 26 years ago. If they do not repay the money within 30 days, it will be withheld from their state tax return.

The association says the cost of this type of policy outweighs any benefits and penalizes low-income people who are already struggling to make ends meet. The group pointed out that the overpayments are not the result of fraudulent activity, but most were caused by state administrative errors.

Many recipients of the notices would no longer have any documentation of the payments and thus could not challenge the state's action, the association said.