MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Veterans Services Office is prepared to serve the nearly 5,000 veterans of the county, according to director R. Trent Ansel.
Ansel said the office receives operating funds in the amount of 0.5 mils from the county commissioners’ office; this worked out to be around $542,000 for 2008. Nearly half of this money goes into a relief account, said Ansel, funds which are used to assist Knox County veterans in paying for transportation, utility bills, housing and property taxes
All employees of the KCVSO must attend yearly training for service work and filing claims in order to assist veterans. Funding for the training also comes from the office’s operating funds, said Ansel.
Ansel said that assisting veterans with filing claims and other paperwork is an important part of the work that occurs at the KCVSO. He said there are two main types of claims his office assists veterans with: Service-connected claims and non-service-connected claims.
Service-connected claims arise from veterans who are injured while on duty, whether that may be in Iraq or Afghanistan, or while in-country for training or other purposes. According to Ansel, money received by veterans through service-connected claims is tax exempt.
Nonservice-connected claims, said Ansel, are from other injuries veterans may sustain. He gave an example of a veteran being injured in a hospital while being treated for an injury or illness sustained while not on active duty.
“Service-connected and nonservice-connected [claims] bring money into the county from the federal government,” said Ansel.
Through various benefits, over $4.4 million was dispersed from the federal government to veterans in Knox County in 2006, said Ansel, in addition to $337,000 distributed to county veterans for vocational training. The federal government also paid for more than $5.7 million of county veterans’ medical expenses during 2006.
Widow’s pension is another type of claim Ansel’s office handles.
“The terrible thing about the VA is, it all centers around the veteran,” said Ansel. “The veteran’s spouse — until that veteran passes away — is not even in the picture.”
However, he said, benefits for veterans’ widows or widowers increase if there are dependents.
The KCVSO also has two programs to assist veterans with transportation. The most visible of these is the Disabled American Veterans program, which maintains and fuels the vehicles after they are purchased by the KCVSO.
The second program is the gas voucher program.
“We’re only one of maybe two ... or three counties in the state that ... provide gas vouchers” in addition to having the DAV program said Ansel. Gas voucher amounts vary depending on the distance traveled, explained Ansel: “[It’s] $18 to Columbus; $15 to Newark or Mansfield ... it varies.”
Gas vouchers can be issued to veterans to reimburse them for traveling for medical reasons. Eligible veterans must bring proof of a medical visit to the KCVSO in order to be issued a voucher.
He also noted that the KCVSO will issue gas vouchers if a veteran needs to travel to Cleveland for a hearing on his or her claim.
Ansel said community outreach is another important part of the KCVSO.
“We do a lot of outreach; we have an outreach trailer,” he said.
He said the KCVSO trailer is highly visible and his office takes it to various events throughout the county, including the county fair and the Fredericktown Tomato Show. However, Ansel said, other outreach is also important.
“I went to a church to talk about what we do,” he said. “If I can get two veterans sitting there that have never come in here before, that’s what we’re all about.”
One item of concern to Ansel is that all of the files in the KCVSO are in hard copy form. He noted the office has 10 filing cabinets full of veterans’ claims.
“We’re really getting ... more set up so we’re all computerized,” said Ansel. “What happens if we have a fire in the building? ... Or a tornado?”
He said he hopes to have some funds remaining at the end of the year which can be used to begin making electronic copies of documents.
The KCVSO has four staff members, all of whom are veterans. The office is governed by five commissioners who are appointed Judge Otho Eyster and have five-year terms.
Ansel encourages all veterans residing in Knox County to contact his office at 393-6742 if they think that they might be eligible for benefits.
