Bridge Card abusers might escape audit from state
By Meredith Skrzypczak (Last updated: 10/01/09 12:06am)State auditors will not investigate students for potentially misusing Bridge Cards — at least for now.
This week, state officials said the state lacks manpower and money to conduct the audit. Prior to this week’s announcement, an audit was proposed for sometime this year.
“We don’t have anybody to do the audit,” Deputy Auditor General Scott Strong said. “We’ve lost a lot of staff over the years … the staff we have right now are committed to other audits.”
Audits might be considered in the future when the state budget is completed and more resources are available, Strong said.
“We go through a risk-assessment process, and based on what resources we have dictates what audits we do,” he said. “I don’t know if we will have additional resources.”
State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said people should only be using their Bridge Cards for necessities. Jones was part of the push to start the audit.
“I believe that we should never give out cash that is way too subject to abuse,” he said. “It leads to people buying beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets and possibly illegal drugs.”
Advertising senior Lindsay Kwaselow said some students need the assistance provided by the Bridge Cards.
“College kids need it more because they have the least money,” she said. “School is really demanding and a lot of students don’t have jobs.”
State Rep. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, said students putting themselves through school deserve the financial assistance, but not others.
“It’s not right, especially in these times when we have families that are suffering that are legitimately using (Bridge Cards), to have college kids or others abusing,” he said.
It’s important to remember why audits might be important, Schmidt said.
“There is money that is not going to the people that need it most,” he said.
Staff writer Kate Jacobson contributed to this report.
Originally Published: 10/01/09 12:06am
Erin
10/01/09 5:50pmIt’s silly to invest so much money and resources into making sure no one ever misuses the services.
People do. People will. And we waste more money thinking if we just put enough resources into it we can prevent it.
We never will. People will always find a way.
And so what if the people who need that money buy alcohol or drugs? Addictions are strong and even if you need those groceries the addiction often wins out over food when given the choice (and like I said, no matter what restrictions you put, people will find a way). And at the end of the day, like anyone else, if they don’t use their money for what they really need (food), they will be the one suffering the consequences of that.
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Tony
10/01/09 8:10pmI don’t care about the drugs and booze as much as I do the greedy ass college students who are getting bridge cards and are still claimed as dependents on their parents tax returns. Oh, mommy and daddy took in 200K last year, but your lazy ass needs a bridge card.
Yeah, right.
John
10/02/09 2:34pmI did welfare fraud work for the State, including food assistance programs. It is necessary to do this, because there is an inverse correlation between the level of perceived fraud and the generosity of state legislators toward those who are genuinely needy. It is impractical to just figure that those who cheat will somehow suffer the consequences later. Even if this is true, it ignores the plight of those who must depend on the program. The fact that we cannot completely eliminate fraud doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reduce its harm within reason.
Anonymous
10/03/09 3:18pmI have seen NUMEROUS students use bridge cards illegally. They can afford to go out to eat because the bridge card pays for their groceries. There is a LOT of abuse.
Anonymous
10/03/09 3:21pmThere is SO MUCH abuse among students with bridge cards, and there will only be more if they don’t audit them, and say publicly, like they did here, that they won’t audit them.
Anne Schieber
10/14/09 5:44pmanne schieber
10/14/09 5:44pmAt WOOD – TV, Grand Rapids MI
anne.schieber@woodtv.com