Nevada Food Stamp Officials Expect Federal Fine

Nevada health department officials say they're expecting a financial penalty over simmering issues with the state's food stamp program.

Welfare program administrator Steve Fisher told a legislative budget committee Wednesday he expected to pay the penalty to the federal government due to a high error rate and delays in processing food stamp applications.

Fisher said the department is taking steps to amend the program's problems including hiring more full-time workers and reworking the methodology used to estimate the number of cases.

Fisher said he didn't know the penalty's cost. The program was sanctioned in 2010 and fined $144,000 at the time.

Food stamp applications have increased significantly over the last decade with more than 450,000 Nevada residents expected to be enrolled in the program by 2016.
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