The agency overseeing the nation’s $800 million low-income telephone assistance program has launched its own inquiry into how 10,000 Coloradans could have been receiving the subsidy wrongly since 2005.
The Universal Service Administrative Co. said it’s looking into whether the case of moneys miscredited to recipients’ telephone bills is anything other than the computer glitch state welfare officials claim.
“If that’s the case and that number of people were ineligible, then that’s a concern to us,” USAC spokesman Eric Iverson said. “We want to ensure disbursements are accurate.”
Checking welfare rolls for the first time in four years against the names of those getting the $16.50-a-month break on their phone bill, the Colorado Department of Human Services in May found that 9,843 people — more than a third of all those getting the discount — were ineligible.
All received the subsidy from Qwest, the largest telecommunications provider in the state.
Hundreds more names are expected to be added to the list once the state completes a review of the other recipients getting the subsidy from rural telecom providers.
USAC handles the Universal Service Fund, a $7 billion fund that is fueled by a monthly tax on all telephone lines nationwide. It pays for a number of programs, including a low-income component known as Lifelink, which defrays some of the expense of telephone service for the indigent.
The federal benefit is $10 a month, though Coloradans get an additional $6.50 from a statewide telephone line tax.
About 25,000 Coloradans receive the entire benefit through the state’s Low-Income Telephone Assistance Program. In 2008, Colorado telecoms received $3.2 million in Lifelink reimbursements from the USF, most of it to Qwest, federal records show.
The Colorado Department of Human Services blamed a long-malfunctioning $166 million computer system for not allowing it to cross-check state welfare rolls with the names of people getting the monthly telephone credits.
USAC periodically audits each telecom receiving money, and the most recent audit in Colorado from 2007 does not find any of the problems that have now surfaced.
In the end, USAC will decide whether the misallocation — estimated as high as $7.9 million, though only about $4.8 million would be from federal sources — must be recouped and how precisely to do that.
The problem isn’t a new one. In 2005, more than 130,000 New York state residents who were getting the subsidy were found to be ineligible.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com
