Steuben County New York sued because of its incompetence in processing food stamp applications

It's hard to believe that people in Western New York are going hungry because of incompetent county level social services bureaucrats in Steuben County where the county seat is Bath, NY where I was born, but that appears to be the case according to the Western New York Law Center.

Here is the announcement about the law suit from the Western New York Law Center web site on July 16, 2009. Let's hope the law suit is successful and Steuben County steps up to the plate so its residents don't have to go hungry.

A class action lawsuit, Kari C v. Muller, was filed by the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, Western New York Law Center, and the Empire Justice Center on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Plaintiff seeks the Court’s order requiring Steuben County to, inter alia, (1) timely process applications for and provide food stamps to all eligible individuals; and (2) provide timely and adequate written notices of determinations of eligibility for food stamps, including notice of fair hearing rights.

Each month hundreds of Steuben County residents wait for their food stamp eligibility determination beyond the thirty day limit set by law. For example, the complaint alleges that for the months of February to April of 2009, of the applications on the register at the end of the period, an average of 22% of applications each month were pending beyond 30 days, with 36 % of the applications on the register at the end of the period delayed beyond 30 days in April 2009. While they wait, applicants go hungry and without food for their families. They often have to turn to already over burdened food pantries and forgo food necessary for their and their children’s health.