BELLEVUE, WI (WTAQ) – State lawmakers are going after Wisconsinites guilty of food stamp fraud this week.
Another bill would crack down on those who try to scam the unemployment system.
But paying for those investigations is taxing many cash-strapped counties.
So, while the Wisconsin Assembly prepares to take up bills this week dealing with welfare reform, legislation is being planned that would help counties recover some of the money they spend investigating cases of fraud.
Wisconsin Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) is gathering support for a bill that allows counties to re-coup about 20-percent of the money they track down.
He says by giving counties a financial incentive, more welfare fraud cases would be investigated…and that would save taxpayer’s money. That cash would be used to fund further investigations.
Jacque says in Brown County, welfare fraud investigations have led to dozens of prosecutions in the past several years, to the tune of more than a million dollars.
Unfortunately, the county’s costs to conduct these activities are typically well over double what they are able to recoup in payments — basically, Brown County taxpayers are paying the state and federal government for fraud they have uncovered.
Brown County Executive Troy Strekenbach says the county could use the cash incentives to pay for additional investigators, and hire more attorneys to prosecute the cases.
