MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Commissioners had one meeting Monday, with Roger Shooter, director of the Jobs & Family Services Department. Shooter presented the commissioners with statistics concerning food stamps and medical expenditures for the county.
Ohio is at the highest level ever in terms of food stamp usage, according to Shooter. However, Knox County is slightly lower than the state average. The number of households in Knox County using food stamps has increased during the past few months, from 2,038 households in December of 2007, to 2,067 households in February. The monetary amount of food stamps distributed in Knox County throughout 2007 was over $5.2 million.
“We hit a new record on Medicaid, at $91.5 million,” said Shooter, referring to the 2007 statistics.
A large reason for this high amount, according to Shooter, was because of nursing homes located in the county.
“Where Ohio gets in a predicament,” said Shooter, “[is that] they have to pay a 50 percent match on those ... Medicaid expenditures.”
In other words, he said, the state has to match half of the federal funds. Knox County has a rather high amount of medical expenditures, according to Shooter, because the Mount Vernon Developmental Center also uses Medicare.
Shooter also said the number of people on cash assistance in the county rose over 2007.
“[It’s] rising; not by leaps and bounds, but it’s rising,” said Shooter.