Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.
This is in reference to last week's Sun story about the $13 million that is sitting unused in a state account set up to help low-income people pay their utility bills. The account has $17.46 million and the state estimates only $4.4 million will be spent this year. The money comes from a surcharge on power bills that was added in late 2001, and so much of it is going unspent because the state says it couldn't find many people in need of the program.
Linda Mercer, energy assistance program manager of the Nevada Welfare Division, was quoted as saying, "We've tried the traditional methods ... to let people know we had lots of money to help lots of people ... but it didn't do the job." This is outrageous. Did she contact United Way, Catholic Charities, the Jewish Federation or any of the church groups and civic organizations that seem to find the poor and the needy without any trouble?
In announcing that the division has now hired a professional marketing firm for $150,000 a year to promote this program, Mercer "guessed" that they should have taken a more aggressive approach earlier. Her assessment that programs like this take five years to be fully functional is bureaucratic nonsense.
The Nevada Welfare Division needs an investigation and an overhaul of its staff and operations. This department is seriously out of touch with the people it was meant to serve. The governor's office needs to mount an inquiry into this situation.
BETTY R. PARDO
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