A Herald review of a seven-month tally of EBT accounts also showed 37 welfare recipients have separate cash balances in excess of $1,500 -- with one of more than $4,600. Unlike food stamps, which are federally funded, these payments are paid for by state taxpayers.
"There should be an investigation by the administration and an investigation by all of the law enforcement agencies -- including the IG's office -- to look at the question of integrity with the income reporting of people on welfare who receive food stamps," former Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, now of the Pioneer Institute, told the Herald. "Massachusetts, in my view, has a very poor system."
The Herald review comes after state Rep. Shaunna O'Connell paid $800 to pry the welfare data on sky-high benefit balances from the state Department of Transitional Assistance after a store owner in Pittsfield sent her a receipt showing a customer's alarming $7,000 EBT balance.
Among the shocking totals in the DTA data:
--Of the state's 550,000 food stamp, or SNAP, recipients, 1,794 have balances of more than $1,500, and another 45 are carrying more than $5,000.
--One balance in March hit $12,088, the highest from any of the seven months of data the Herald reviewed.
--For those receiving state taxpayer-funded cash assistance, one EBT cardholder had a $4,622 balance, and another $4,320.
On average, state households receive $230 a month in food stamps and $450 in cash assistance, meaning some of these EBT cardholders are going months, even years, without using their accounts.
"It's even worse than I thought it was going to be, what we've seen at this point," O'Connell said, adding she needs more time to dig deeper into the numbers. "Once again, this is the tip of the iceberg."
