CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Treasurer Larry Pack says the timing is bad.
Pack said the state has the money to continue the clothing voucher program for needy kids heading back to school that the state Department of Human Services closed this week after only a week of registration.
The Morrisey administration said the program ran out of money.
Pack said Friday on MetroNews Talkline TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) has the money.
“The legislature appropriated about $110 million for this program (TANF). We’re 31 days into the fiscal year. We are not out of money 31 days into the fiscal year,” Pack said.
Pack released a statement Thursday calling the move to close the application period early “unacceptable.” He said Friday he couldn’t look the other way.
“These folks (those who get the vouchers) don’t have lobbyists, they don’t make campaign contributions. We’ve started and stopped and left them out and from a sports standpoint we’ve changed rules in the middle of the game,” Pack said.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office told West Virginia Watch reporter Amelia Knisely applications for the $200 clothing vouchers were made for 52,000 children in the seven days the program was open.
Morrisey’s Communications Director Lars Dalseide said the demand was “extraordinarily high, and the available funding was exhausted before the application period ended.”
Pack said Friday if Gov. Morrisey and his team want to make a long-term change in the program then give people several months notice.
“But don’t do it right in the middle of the season and change the rules at this time,” Pack said.
Pack said the difference in funding the increase in applications is about $1 million. He said the state will announce next week a budget surplus from last fiscal year of about $370 million.
“It seems to me they (the governor’s office) needs to get their house in order,” Pack said on “Talkline.” “The recipients, the people who expect to get this money, they didn’t create this problem. The legislature didn’t create this problem. It just lands in one place.”