Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is six months less temporary and millions of dollars more expensive in Colorado after a state Department of Human Services rule change last year, documents show.
Before the change, counties had to certify welfare recipients’ eligibility to receive benefits annually, but recipients had to submit monthly status reports to ensure they qualified for benefits and received the correct amount. Now, counties must certify twice a year, but the monthly reports from recipients are no longer required. And modifications to benefits in the six-month period occur only if the recipient was due more, not less, money, records show.
Since the change went into effect in July 2013, counties have seen an increase in the number of people collecting welfare, and the state set a 24-month expenditure record in June for Colorado Works, which is what the state calls its TANF program, state records show.
The documents conceded the change could increase money going to welfare recipients and keep them on the program longer.
“In some circumstances, the Certification Period may result in a modest increase to a participant’s grant, or may lengthen time spent in the program,” the analysis portion of the document states. “Cost increases would be covered by the county’s Colorado Works block grant.”
But state figures show modest appears to be in the eye of the beholder or, in this case, bureaucrat.
When the rule change went into effect in July 2013, about $10.7 million in federal TANF money went to counties for Colorado Works recipients, records show. And although the amount fluctuates — sometimes wildly — month to month, by June of this year taxpayers were spending $16.8 million a month for Colorado Works, records show.
State Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Berthoud Republican who sits on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said he was not aware of the rule change or possible fiscal impact until a reporter told him about it.
A 24-month chart of Colorado Works expenditures show expenditures peaking a year after the rule change. (Photo: State of Colorado)
“Far too many agencies shovel out the money as quickly they can,” Lundberg said. “It’s the entitlement attitude that the agency is there to provide benefits and the more people who get benefits, the more successful the agencies are. They are not supposed to be sugar daddies.”
Levetta Love, director of its Office of Economic Security, defended the change as helping to reduce county workloads, allowing social workers to make sure recipients have the skills and resources to transition off welfare.
“We felt as a state that our customers needed to be able to stabilize before they were moved directly to a job… so that they would stay off assistance,” Love said.
