A bill introduced by Rep. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, might increase the amount Ohio families receive from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund by $100 a month.
Stewart said he had been working with Athens County Job and Family Services for months to prepare this bill. There is currently a large surplus left in the TANF fund that must be spent. The legislature has to take a serious look at this surplus and judge where the extra money should go, and Stewart is more in favor of helping the poor, he said.
This money shouldn't be used for a tax cut
Stewart said.
Ohio's $1.1 billion surplus is one of the largest TANF surpluses in the nation, said Jack Frech, director of Athens County Job and Family Services. Frech said many residents of the county have no income at all and receive only TANF funds. A typical family receiving these funds gets $400 in cash and $300 in food stamps per month, Frech said. But this still leaves families $500 below the poverty line, Frech said.
Months ago, as part of the two-year budget, TANF recipients received their first pay bump in five years, with an increase of $30 a month.
Frech said Gov. Bob Taft also recently gave an executive order allocating $75 million of TANF funds to help the poor with heating costs this winter.
Though heating costs might be one of the biggest concerns for residents, it's not the only one, Frech said. Heating costs are not the only cost that has gone up he said.
Stewart said that while other costs have gone up, the amount TANF recipients receive has remained constant since the mid-1980s, with the exception of the recent $30 increase. In a county with one of the highest poverty rates in the state, such stagnation is an evident problem.
If nobody else will stand up for these people I certainly will
Stewart said.
The $75 million in heating help is only a one-time assistance that is added to $100 million provided by a similar program started last year, Taft spokesman Orest Holubec said.
With reports of increasing energy costs
we thought we needed to do what we could
he said.
The program will help 70,000 more households than last year's program, Holubec said. A family must be at 175 percent of the poverty line to receive the heating aid. The Ohio Department of Development will campaign to inform residents of the program and urge them to sign up.
Those interested can call the department to apply for this assistance at 1-800-614-282-0880.
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Chris Yonker
