The Social Security Administration, SSA, says that a $300,000 grant given to the Ohio Legal Rights Service, OLRS, was not funded by the Recovery Act.  But, according to www.recovery.gov that same grant was “agency reported” to them by the SSA as having been funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, money.

Several individuals at the Ohio Legal Rights Service told Ohio Watchdog that the organization did not receive any stimulus money. After a visit to the office, located in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Watchdog was told that further questions regarding this grant would have to be addressed to their legal department.

After leaving voice messages with their legal department a response was received from Tim Tobin, the Policy Director at Ohio Legal Rights Service, OLRS. Tobin said, “you had asked whether or not OLRS received any federal stimulus funds and we did not. There possibly could have been maybe some things we might have tried to compete for, or apply for, but we were not eligible for anything directly.” But, according to www.recovery.org, they did receive ARRA money and it was awarded by the SSA.

To figure out whether or not OLRS received stimulus money Ohio Watchdog called the Ohio Office of the Inspector General, OIG. Through a voicemail, the Ohio OIG confirmed that yes, OLRS did receive $300,000, but at that time the office was not exactly sure if it was stimulus or not. Ohio Watchdog was told the Ohio OIG was investigating the issue further.

After speaking with someone in the Ohio OIG office, the same official who asked to not be named explained how the ARRA money in Ohio is being accounted for and offered insight into the $300,000 grant awarded to OLRS.

The Ohio OIG official said, “Tim Tobin was confused by the question of ‘Did you receive stimulus funds?’ That is why he answered that OLRS did not.” The official went on to explain that the program OLRS received funds for was a five year program that was going to be phased out if more funding was not received. But, with the $300,000 grant OLRS received from the SSA the program was extended.

“They don’t know if ARRA money is funding the program or not. For five years it has been running on non-ARRA funds. As long as the program is running they didn’t ask any questions,” the Ohio OIG official said.

So, who does know the answer? “Since the SSA filed the report they’re responsible to tell us,” the Ohio OIG official said. After a call to the SSA, the agency requested the questions regarding this grant be put in an MX-3501N_20091202_161158 “>e-mail.

The MX-3501N_20091202_161228 “>response from Mark Hinkle from the SSA Press Office explains that the $300,000 grant awarded to OLRS was not funded under the Recovery Act. It “is a normal grant provided under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act,” Hinkle said. The project is being overseen by a “grants manager and a project manager.”

According to Hinkle, “Social Security has not awarded any grants using Recovery Act money. Money spent for contracts and paying the Economic Recovery One-time Payments of $250 is reported on the Agency’s Recovery web site.” The response from Hinkle resulted in another sent MX-3501N_20091202_161322 “>e-mail in which no response has been received.

According to the SSA they did not fund the OLRS project with stimulus money. The OLRS is not sure where the money came from they just know that they received funding for the program. The Ohio OIG does not have jurisdiction to monitor this particular grant. And www.recovery.gov lists the program and the $300,000 grant as being funded with ARRA money and reported to them by the SSA.

Calls to both OLRS and the Ohio OIG went unanswered today.

Read more about who is accountable for ARRA money awarded to the State of Ohio here.