$83 Million in SNAP Benefits Not Distributed to Applicants on Time

A performance auditby the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor (OSA) has found tens of millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit payments were delivered late to North Carolinians.

From 2021 to 2024, North Carolina processed 3.7 million SNAP benefit applications and paid out approximately $15.7 billion in SNAP benefit payments. However, SNAP benefit payments were not always made on time during this period. Approximately $83 million in benefits, which are federally funded and overseen by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Child and Family Well-Being, were delayed from 2021 to 2024.

Auditors identified the seven counties with the worst performance in meeting federal timeliness standards: Davidson, Edgecombe, Wake, Mecklenburg, Pitt, Cumberland, and Stanly counties. These counties issued between 14%-25% of benefit payments in an untimely manner. 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 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," said State Auditor Dave Boliek. "It is troubling that DHHS leadership doesn't believe tracking untimely benefit amounts would improve efficiency. Measuring performance provides transparency and results on the spending of taxpayer dollars."

OSA included recommendations for the Division of Child and Family Well-Being to take, including 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.