Welfare computer given fed blesssing

Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001 | 9:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- NOMADS, the once troubled-plagued computer system of the state Welfare Division that took more than a decade to develop, is off the federal black list, allowing the state a $3.6 million refund on $5.6 million in fines.

"The feds are off our backs," said state Welfare Administrator Mike Willden as he announced Wednesday that the computer has been certified by the federal Administration for Children and Families.

The federal agency suggested some changes, but Willden said they were policy issues.

"We're driving the boat now, not the feds," he told the legislative budget committees.

Willden said the computer system processes 2,200 to 2,500 checks a day in child-support payments and 98 percent of checks are handled through his agency within 48 hours.

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, said she had received complaints several months ago that child-support checks were delayed.

Willden replied that there were some problems in August and September but they have now been been smoothed out.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said his grandchild receives a child-support check and a few of them were delayed. But he said they have been received "like clockwork" in the last two to three months.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has cited the NOMADS improvement as one of the major accomplishments of his administration.

NOMADS started in 1988 as a $22.6 million project that was to be completed in two years. The federal government required an automated statewide system of handling child-support payments, instead of running it county by county. The welfare division decided to overhaul its full system rather than one unit.

The cost now has reached nearly $125 million, of which the federal government paid the major share.

Critics have called the system a dinosaur and complained it is already obsolete.

Willden said improvements must still be made but the system meshes child support with welfare assistance, food stamps and Medicaid.

"We turn out 116,000 Medicaid cards a month and handle $60 million in food stamps and $25 million in temporary assistance to needy families," he said.

Guinn said a failure by the state to get the system approved could have mean an additional $30 million in fines.