Florida wins $7 million for wasting $47 million in food stamp funds

By Marianela Toledo | Florida Watchdog

MIAMI — Florida once again is getting a hefty bonus — $7 million to be exact — from the feds for “saving” taxpayers money.

This year, the state’s Department of Children and Families managed to misspend only $47,829,887 in food stamp benefits. That’s out of almost $6 billion the state received from the federal government.

Nevertheless, Florida’s error rate of .81 percent is the second lowest in the nation, and only a slight dip from the previous year when the state received $8 million for having the lowest in the nation at 0.7 percent. Vermont had the highest waste rate at 9.66 percent, while the national average was 3.2 percent.

“We are pleased Florida is again being recognized as a leader for quality and accuracy in processing food assistance applications,” DCF Interim Secretary Mike Carroll said in a statement. “The department is committed to helping individuals in crisis and being able to quickly assist families and individuals in need of these resources is one of our principal functions.

“This is the seventh year in a row that DCF’s improvements and accuracy in correctly processing food assistance applications has received accolades and bonus money from the federal government, totaling more than $54 million.”