RALEIGH — A performance audit by the Office of the State Auditor says $83 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits between 2021 and 2024 were delivered late to recipients.
“In total, there were over 290,000 SNAP benefit payments that were not made within the timeframe standards set by the federal government,” the audit report states.
“The State Auditor’s Office is committed to holding government accountable for being efficient. In this case, despite repeatedly seeing there were delays in the distribution of SNAP benefits, DHHS chose not to enforce corrective actions,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a press release.
“When a county Department of Social Services office fails to meet federal timeliness requirements, the Division of Child and Family Well-Being has the authority to enforce corrective actions,” the report’s cover letter reads. “Our audit found DHHS leadership made the decision not to issue formal corrective actions between February 1, 2020, and December 31, 2024. The lack of corrective action occurred when several counties issued as many as 20-25% of benefit payments in an untimely manner.”
Boliek said it’s “troubling that DHHS leadership doesn’t believe tracking untimely benefit amounts would improve efficiency” and that “measuring performance provides transparency and results on the spending of taxpayer dollars.”
The audit report also revealed that 3.7 million SNAP benefit applications were processed during those years with payouts of approximately $15.7 billion.
SNAP, which is federally funded, is administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Division of Child and Family Well–Being.
Boliek’s press release said auditors identified the seven counties with the worst performance in meeting federal timeliness standards as Davidson, Edgecombe, Wake, Mecklenburg, Pitt, Cumberland and Stanly counties.
“These counties issued between 14%-25% of benefit payments in an untimely manner,” according to Boliek’s press release. “The audit found that DHHS leadership made the decision not to enforce corrective actions to county offices that failed to meet federal timeliness requirements.”
The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 requires that all eligible households must receive their benefits within 30 days of applying or seven days for those who may be eligible for expedited service. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service also requires at least 95% of applications be processed within those two parameters.
The audit report notes that statewide timeliness was 98% in 2021, bolstered by COVID-19 waivers on recertifications. But that rate fell to 91% from 2022 to 2024, dipping below the federal 95% standard, with counties like Davidson (25% untimely) and Mecklenburg (21%) faring worst due to surging applications post-waiver, workforce shortages and record food inflation.
Recommendations offered by the audit for the Division of Child and Family Well-Being included “consistent monitoring of the timeliness of county SNAP benefit payments, enforcing corrective actions, and ensuring access to the necessary data to administer and monitor SNAP benefit payments.”
The Division of Child and Family Well-Being provided a formal response to the audit report, expressing appreciation for the review while accepting the overall findings on untimely SNAP payments.
The response detailed ongoing monitoring efforts and committed to implementing corrective actions by January 2025, such as reinstating a “formal MOU corrective actions for counties not meeting the 95% timeliness standard.” The response also partially disagreed with aspects of the second recommendation regarding data tracking.
