I tip my hat to Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen for risking being called mean and cruel. He wants to narrow the rules of the city’s program that allows santitation workers to help folks who are elderly or have physical issues that prevent them from putting their trash on the curb by themselves. It seems that some able-bodied people are simply taking advantage of the program. Pathetic.
To be clear, helping people take their trash in and out is something that shouldn’t require government involvement at all. Assisting the sick and elderly is the moral obligation of family, friends, neighbors, and church members. That said, if the government is involved, then by all means, let’s make sure the program is targeted, limited, and monitored. Allen says by doing that, he can save the city $450,000.
Here’s hoping state and local official follows Allen’s lead to eliminate fraud from the gargantuan free-and-reduced lunch program in public schools. As Carolina Journal’s David Bass has reported, there are many red flags about people helping themselves to this program (emphasis is mine):
A majority of sampled applicants enrolled in the free and reduced-price lunch program in North Carolina can’t prove eligibility to participate, according to verification summaries from the state’s 115 school districts.
An analysis of the summaries showed that 54 percent of a sample pool of applicants could not or would not provide income proof to justify their meal benefits. The entitlement, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at an annual cost of $8 billion, is meant for families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. But the summaries suggest that many ineligible families still participate.
As Carolina Journal first reported in July, school nutrition officials have opposed a comprehensive audit of local school lunch programs, citing USDA guidelines that prohibit over-verification. Some county leaders and school board members, however, have pushed for a more thorough review, especially since the program is used by school districts often as a funding allocation tool.
