Akron Beacon Journal...
Out of pockets  
November  23, 2011 

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services admits responsibility for the errors, overpaying welfare recipients more than 10 years ago. The agency points to administrative miscues, all told costing the state $18 million, plus another $8.4 million in food-stamp overpayments. 

Now officials have launched an effort to recover the money. How are they doing so? The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that they want the recipients of the overpayments to return the money. The department is making the demand even though the recipients did nothing wrong. No allegations of fraud have been made. 

The chase for the money is going forward according to regulation, the state recently removing the 10-year limitation for collecting overpayments of welfare, part of matching a similar change at the federal level. More, officials note that the technology now exists to track recipients more easily. 

All that’s missing is a sense of proportion. In some instances, the amount sought by the agency rates in double figures, less than $100. Surely, officials have more productive things to do. State government gives up $7.5 billion a year in tax breaks. How about devoting as much effort to see whether each bit of relief still serves a good purpose? 

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