DSS asks county for extra investigator
By MICHAEL ANICH, The Leader-HeraldJOHNSTOWN - The Fulton County Department of Social Services requested creation of a financial investigator position in the Child Support Unit to better track and crack down on support cases.
"We look at it as a win-win situation all the way around for our department, for our clients and for the county," DSS Commissioner Sheryda Cooper told the Board of Supervisors' Social Services Committee at a recent meeting at the County Office Building.
Her department has five investigators and wants to increase that number to six. Investigators handle approximately 900 cases apiece. The county has about 4,500 support cases and the number is growing, Cooper said.
"It's really people having children and not staying together," the DSS official said.
She recounted how in May 2007, DSS asked for staffing changes in the Child Support Unit based on vacancies at the time to allow the unit to be more productive. She said the change produced "successful results."
Cooper said the child support collection rate on assistance cases went from 56 percent in December 2006 to 73 percent in December 2007. She also said $6.8 million in support was collected in 2007 - an increase of $153,263 from 2006.
Cooper requested supervisors create a financial investigator position and abolish a typist position, currently vacant, in the Child Support Unit.
"The changes made to the unit one year ago had a positive effect for the clientele served as well as for the county," Cooper said. "The current opportunity to add an additional investigator position to the unit at a very minimal cost and a cost still less than the cost of staff a year ago is expected to have the same success."
She said the move - done to alleviate the burden of other investigators and provide greater monitoring and tracking opportunities - would only cost the county an extra $876.
Cooper said the financial investigator would have specific duties to address work the other investigators haven't been able to consistently address, such as confinement petitions and adjustments, DNA petitions and adjustments, and income execution hardship forms.
Johnstown 3rd Ward Supervisor John Callery said this might not be the time to create the new position.
"I think this should be done at budget time," Callery said.
"We're proposing it now because of the vacancy," Cooper responded.
She said the federal government offers incentives to counties clearing up child collection cases by giving more funding to states, which in turn provides more money to counties.
Committee Chairman Alan McLain asked who will pick up the work of the typist.
"It's kind of reallocating the work that we have," Cooper said.
She said investigators will have to step in from time to time to do clerical work. Cooper said DSS also has an account clerk and account clerk typist that can do more duties.
She said the ultimate goal is to stay current on support cases.
"It's going to take monitoring and keeping staff on task," she said.
Bleecker Supervisor David Howard said the current child support situation in which people pay support for their children as part of their budgets represents a "perfect storm," with the current prices of gas and food also spiraling upward.
"We're going to have an explosion," Howard said.
Michael Anich covers Fulton County and Johnstown. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com.
