Washington County may raise general assistance income cap

WASHINGTON — After making it easier to qualify for a handful of local veteran’s benefits, Washington County officials appear poised to raise the maximum income for recipients of other county services, potentially opening a door to services for low-income community members.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 on April 29 to raise the threshold for Veterans Affairs assistance from 125% of the federal poverty line to 200%, a week after department Director Carrie Rich said few in the community qualified for burial money, rent assistance or other services due to limited eligibility guidelines.

That change, which has already taken effect, bumped the monthly income for eligible recipients up from $1,630 for single-member households, up to $2,608. And after rejecting three of four applications for financial aid last quarter, Rich said the change would make way for local benefits to more veterans.

“We’re saying ‘no’ more than ‘yes,’ when it comes to helping veterans,” said one department employee, ahead of the vote.

In the weeks since, county decision-makers have moved to do the same for benefits from the General Assistance department, which similarly offers temporary financial aid for low-income county residents struggling to afford groceries, rent, burials or utilities.

County officials said only a fraction of the department’s budget was spent every fiscal year due to strict limits on who can receive the aid, namely that eligibility is capped at 100% of the federal poverty line, about $1,304 for a single-member household.

“The guidelines are so strict,” said RenElla Crawford, the director of HACAP, a community action program which administers Washington County’s general assistance funds. She said a hypothetical 200% threshold would “Hopefully make more people eligible,” though she later told The Union she wasn’t sure whether county officials would raise it quite that much.

There would still be other barriers to local assistance. Recipients can’t get General Assistance money more than twice, and cannot receive state or federal aid on top of county relief, according to Crawford. She said conditions like that would ensure the county didn’t outpace its budget by raising the income cap.

“There might be some other things that will make them ineligible,” she said. “We’re not talking big, big dollars, but if there’s a lot of people that might be eligible, then it might be a concern.”

While the county awaits a more detailed report from Crawford on the implications of such a change to General Assistance, the prospect of more accessible local aid seems popular among supervisors, who say the money they allocate to the department isn’t helping taxpayers as it sits mostly unused.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me to have something allocated and then not spend it,” Supervisor Marcus Fedler said. “We’re (less than) half of what we allocate to what we spend in a year.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com