Missouri food stamp numbers have been reported wrong for seven years.
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Missouri food stamp numbers have been reported wrong for seven years.

Date: December 15, 2009
By: Rebecca Stephen
State Capitol Bureau

Intro:  The Missouri Auditor's office is asking questions and waiting for answers from the federal government.
RunTime:  0:45
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: The Auditors office is waiting to hear back from the USDA on how the inaccurate reporting of food stamp participation in Missouri will be dealt with.

Missouri Department of Social Services spokesman Scott Rowson (R-OW-SIN) says the error in reporting was due to a computer glitch that counted people who were no longer receiving benefits.   

Actuality:  ROWSON.WAV
Run Time:  00:13
Description: "So those inactive individuals were not still getting food stamps, but for the purposes of reporting to the federal government they were still included in our participation rate report."

Rowson also says the department received a performance bonus for the inaccurate numbers.

The department is waiting to hear how the USDA will handle this. 

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Stephen.