SNAP food stamp applications being processed faster, Suffolk officials say

Suffolk County has significantly improved processing times for food stamps, a major assistance program for roughly 125,000 residents, according to statistics from the office of County Executive Edward P. Romaine.

The numbers show that for each month from February through April, there were, respectively, 1,384, 585 and 216 overdue food stamp applications. The on-time rate for applications in April, the last full month for which data was provided, was 84%.

The statistics did not include full data for May, but in an interview John Imhof, acting commissioner of the Department of Social Services, said that by early this week the number of overdue applications had been cut to 38.

By contrast, for the six-month period between June and November last year, roughly a third to half of all applications were overdue, and in September — the worst month for on-time performance — 2,703 applications were late, Newsday reported earlier this year.

Federal law entitles eligible households to food stamps — the formal name is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — within 30 days of application. For applicants with scarce resources, the deadlines are even shorter. SNAP is a federal program, but states or local social service agencies determine eligibility for applicants, who generally live close to or below the poverty line.

“You had among the worst records in the state," said Romaine, who took office in January. “We saw that, and said we’re going to focus on this problem … I want better outcomes for county government, and more confidence for people that county government is going to respond to their needs.”

County officials told Newsday earlier this year that backlogs in processing applications for SNAP and other public assistance programs had grown because of staffing shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused applications for assistance to increase, and a 2022 ransomware attack that crippled county computers. 

Imhof has yet to be confirmed by the full county legislature but met with members of the Seniors and Human Services Committee at a public hearing this week. He said his department had cut wait times for SNAP by hiring 28 new social services examiners to make eligibility determinations, with 12 more hires scheduled to start June 10.

The department also reassigned staff to the SNAP unit, expanded use of overtime and changed how it manages workload to process applications faster, a Romaine spokesman said.

The department receives about 189 new applications for SNAP assistance every day, Imhof said in an interview. About 40 to 45 positions were still vacant in the SNAP unit, but Imhof said that he hoped to attract new candidates at a June 6 job fair.

The county has also commissioned a study to evaluate the salaries for some of its workers. Salaries for level one examiners start at $42,360, which county officials have said is too low to attract workers.

Suffolk’s 2024 budget shows 1,751 authorized positions for the Department of Social Services. The recommended operating budget showed 566 unfilled positions in 2023, a 32% vacancy rate.

Former department Commissioner Frances Pierre left shortly before her term expired in April, after the release of a special grand jury report about the department’s handling of the child abuse case of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, who died of hypothermia in 2020 after his father and his father’s fiancee forced him to sleep in the garage of their Center Moriches home in freezing temperatures.

Legis. Trish Bergin (R-East Islip), chair of the Seniors and Human Services Committee, which oversees the department, said the department’s previous leadership was “just neglectful in their duties to process the SNAP applications.” Under Imhof, she said, “it is a work in progress, but we certainly are making headway.”

Pierre, reached by phone, declined to comment. Former County Executive Steve Bellone did not respond to a voicemail.