August 12, 2011

Madison – In a deal that preserves millions of dollars in federal aid to Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker’s administration will drop hundreds of private contractor employees who work for the state’s food assistance program and hire scores of public workers as replacements.

The agreement comes after federal officials had threatened in recent months to withhold some money for the state’s FoodShare program because of what they said were improper privatization efforts that were started by the administration of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and initially intensified by the administration of Walker, a Republican.
“We didn’t create this mess but we sure are getting it fixed,” Kitty Rhoades, deputy health services secretary for the state, said of the agreement with the federal Food and Nutrition Service. “It’s a good workable solution.”

If the state fails to keep up with the schedule to replace the private contractors, the federal government could still cut money that it sends the state to administer the FoodShare program, which replaced food stamps in Wisconsin. In 2010, the state received $20.5 million in federal money for administrative costs for FoodShare and another $2.3 million in one-time federal stimulus money.