Welfare rolls lowest in a year

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The number of people drawing welfare benefits in Nevada in June dropped to the lowest level in a year with 27,621 receiving cash assistance in June, the state Welfare Division reported Wednesday.

"We're very encouraged by this," Roger Mowbray, deputy administrator in charge of finance in the division, said this morning.

But he noted that the number of people receiving food stamps continues to climb.

"It's hard to draw any real conclusions," he said referring to the drop in welfare numbers but the rise in food stamp recipients.

The 27,621 enrolled in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was 5.19 percent lower than in May. And it was 6,772 less than a year ago in June.

The number of food stamp recipients grew 6.6 percent in May to 116,610, more than 17,000 more than were receiving food stamps in May 2002. The food stamp report is a month behind the other reports.

The division said those on Medicaid, the program for medical care for the needy, dropped to 168,504, a decrease of 0.79 percent compared with the previous month. But it was up by 11,919 from a year ago.

A major issue in the Legislature was the estimates of welfare recipients for the coming two years. Gov. Kenny Guinn, in his budget, estimated this fiscal year the caseload would be 39,709 and it would rise to 46,062 the following year.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said he was "not surprised" that the June figure has fallen to its lowest point in a year. "We kept saying the estimates were too high."

The welfare division revised its estimates during the legislative session to 35,000 this fiscal year and to 41,000 next fiscal year. Mowbray said the Legislature eventually provided money for an average 29,651 recipients this fiscal year and 32,170 next fiscal year.

Hettrick said, "Our estimates were they could have been lowered to 29,000."