Posted November 19, 20115:47 am
Cleveland, OH -- WEWS TV-5 uncovered concerns today about a new Ohio plan to collect welfare overpayments. Eugene King, the director of the Ohio Poverty Law Center said some welfare recipients could be forced to pay the state money they don't owe.
David Dawson, the deputy director of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, also expressed concern about the potential for errors.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services recently sent out 22,500 collection notices to welfare recipients.
The notices instruct the recipients to pay their balances within 30 days or the state will seize the money from the recipients' Ohio tax returns.
King said he has received about 150 complaints about the notices.
Dawson said he knows of about 25 complaints.
They said many of the complaints are from recipients who claimed they have already paid their bills and are having troubling locating proof of their payments.