MONTPELIER, Vt. -
A "welfare to work" program in Vermont is planning some big changes that could end up saving taxpayers money.
Governor Peter Shumlin's administration wants to put a limit on the reach up program instead of allowing people to receive financial assistance indefinitely.
"If they've been on for a long time it's saying something somewhere is not working," Secretary of Agency of Human Services Doug Racine said.
At a House committee meeting Thursday Racine outlined the state's plan to limit the Reach Up program to three years, potentially five but the last two can't be consecutive. The time limit change would be effective October 1, 2013.
"It is designed to be temporary and for most people on the program it is temporary," Racine said.
Reach Up gives people in need of financial assistance with children up to $660 a month. There are work requirements, such as people on the program must be actively looking for work, but case managers say some people aren't sticking to the rules.
The people that I see the time limit really affecting are the people in a lot of instances lacking the motivation to want to do something to change their lives," Reach Up case manger Becky Baker said.
But the state does plan on making exceptions to the three year limit. People wit health problems or are incapable of working would not be included. The time limit would not start counting for teen moms until they turn 18 years old. People in the Post Secondary Education program of Reach Up would also be exempt.
Still the limit would immediately effect more than 1,100 people and the state estimates would lead to almost $7.9 million in savings. But Chris Curtis with Vermont Legal Aid says it would be too much for households to lose.
"I think what families need in this economic time is consistency and stability," Curtis said.
But Racine says the state and the people on reach up more than three years should have that stability by now.
"They're not meeting their responsibility and I don't think we're meeting our responsibility," Racine said.
To help in keeping that responsibility the Agency of Human Services would like to hire an additional 18 case managers for Reach Up.
