Colorado fights to keep food stamp money
John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
Published February 14, 2007 at midnight
An appeals court in Alexandria, Va., is hearing arguments from the Colorado Attorney General's Office on why the state should not have to repay $11.2 million of food stamp benefits that the federal government contends were overpaid.
The two-day hearing that concludes today centers largely on errors generated by Colorado's Computer Benefits Management System, a $223 million centralized network that came under fire shortly after it came online in September 2004.
The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture points to design flaws in the system, and an analysis done on information extracted from the system led the agency to conclude that $11,162,598 of food stamp benefits were issued incorrectly.
In a separate action, the service also suspended $479,000 of payments for what it contends was Colorado's failure to fully implement a cost-of-living adjustment in the food stamp program.
A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services said the agency has acknowledged problems with CBMS but added that the federal government's analysis that led to the claim of $11.2 million of overpayments also had flaws.
"What the attorney general is questioning is the methodology that the Food and Nutrition Service used," said spokeswoman Liz McDonough.
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