SC gets $2M for improving food stamp system | News

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina is getting more than $2 million from the federal government for improving its food stamp benefits system.

The state Department of Social Services said Thursday that South Carolina had received a "high performance bonus" of more than $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

South Carolina's social services agency administers federal food stamp benefits. Director Lillian Koller says the state's error rate of making over-payments of food stamp benefits was 5.14 percent in 2010, a problem that put South Carolina in jeopardy of being penalized by the federal government.

But that rate improved by 2 points to 3.14 percent last year, lower than the national average error rate of 3.80 percent.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.