NORWICH – Chenango County has accumulated more than $800,000 in outstanding debt within its fraud unit, Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne told two committees this week. The amount has accumulated over a 6 to 8-year period and is primarily the result of errors within the department and recipient fraud.

Approximately $35,000 per year is currently collected, Osborne said, but a recent New York State audit has advised DSS to do a better job. Chenango County is one of 48 counties in the state that were cited for accumulating too much fraud debt.

The amount outstanding includes $265,000 in Medicaid; $260,000 in Temporary Assistance; $157,000 in Food Stamps; $118,000 in Family Emergency Services; $2,000 in Day Care; and $1,000 in HEAP.

“This has not been my intent, nor my predecessor’s. This has been a case of the smaller alligator biting me. I thought this was the standard. It is hard to collect these. Some counties actually have hired collection agencies,” Osborne told the Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday.

The county accumulated $241,000 in debt in 2006.

Osborne received permission from Health and Human Services and the Personnel Committee to promote an existing account clerk/typist who would be able to call, write letters, and do repayment schedules with clients.

“The fraud unit gets court-ordered claims in and establishes liens, but then collections seems to fall short. There is nobody now to do this,” she said.

“Do they understand that they have to pay it back?” Allan I. Johnson, R-Smithville, asked.

“Some people are confused. If the agency made a mistake, they think, ‘Why should I pay it back?’ There is some fraud, but it’s a lack of DSS getting to them and telling them often enough so that it sinks in,” Osborne said.

Town of Smyrna Supervisor James B. Bays agreed, saying: “We need to make sure that our customers know their obligations.”