LEBANON, Ohio -- A southwest Ohio county is threatening to ignore new food stamp rules because officials say relatively well off people are getting benefits.
Commissioners in Warren County near Cincinnati said Tuesday they want to go back to the old eligibility standards. They were angry after learning that a woman with $80,000 in the bank, a paid-off $311,000 home and a Mercedes qualified for $500 a month in food stamps after she lost her job.
Commissioner Dave Young calls the new rules offensive.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says a change made in October based on a suggestion from the federal government bases eligibility on income. Savings, stocks, cash and other assets are no longer taken into account.
The state says it's up to the state agency, not individual counties, to ensure eligible Ohioans have access to food stamps.
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