Governor to raise eligibility limit for food stamps
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By LISA RATHKE The Associated Press - Published: September 11, 2008
BURLINGTON — Gov. James Douglas on Wednesday announced an expansion of the food stamp program to 30,000 more Vermonters.
Starting Jan. 1, 2009, the eligibility limit for foods stamps will rise from the current 130 percent of the federal poverty level to 185 percent — equivalent to a salary of about $19,300 for an individual, $26,000 for couple and $39,300 for a family of four — and restrictions on assets will be eliminated, Douglas said.
The program could provide an additional $12 million in food stamp assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and would more than double the number of Vermont families eligible for the benefit.
Currently about 28,000 households are eligible.
"We have to do everything we possibly can to ensure that each and every Vermonter takes full advantage of the benefits that are available to help them feed their families in a very difficult and challenging time," said Douglas, who said he wanted to help erase the stigma of receiving food stamps. Recipients would receive a check in the mail or use an electronic card, officials said.
The expansion will cost an estimated $281,000 in state funding to pay for 15 additional state positions to administer the program, Douglas said. States have the authority to set income eligibility limits for food stamps, but must have funding to pay for the administration of it, according to Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs.
Before the rise in fuel and food costs, one in 10 Vermont households were at risk of hunger, said Dorigen Keeney, director of public policy and research for the Vermont Campaign to End Children Hunger.
"Hunger is a hidden travesty in Vermont, where elders subsist on tea and toast, parents go without meals to make sure their children can eat and children live for days on just bread and pasta," she said.
Schools in Bennington know it's Friday because children stuff food into their pockets to get them through the weekend, she said.
Hungry children have more development delays and illnesses than their peers, and have trouble focusing, miss school days and don't test well, which adds up to greater risk of academic failure, she said.
"The public health and economic consequences of hunger are very significant for our state," she said.
The food stamp expansion will also help seniors on fixed incomes, said John Barbour, executive director of the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging, which has received nearly triple the amount of fuel- and food-related calls since last year.
Democratic rival Gaye Symington said she was pleased the benefits would help more Vermonters.
"It's a recognition of the crisis Vermonters are facing with the coming winter," she said of the expansion. But she said the crisis could have been softened if Douglas had helped Vermonters to weatherize their homes or had been more creative in how to save Vermonters money heating their homes.
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