Vermont Heating program prepares for 'desperate' winter

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Heating program prepares for 'desperate' winter October 14, 2000

BY WILSON RING Associated Press Writer

MONTPELIER - Vermont is due for a long, cold winter, the price of heating fuel is skyrocketing and applications for heating assistance are up 22 percent over last year.

But it's not all bad news for the office that manages Vermont's heating assistance program.

The need to help people pay their heating bills is being discussed by the two major presidential candidates, the state has already received a big infusion of extra heating assistance money and another big chunk could be on the way soon.

"Three winters in a row have been warmer than usual. Weather historians say you are not supposed to have three in a row," said the state's fuel assistance chief, Richard Moffi. "If we get hit with even an average winter, people are going to need to buy more fuel. It's going to be just desperate."

Moffi's office, a branch of the Department of Prevention, Assistance, Transition and Health Access, is working straight out to ensure that no needy Vermonter goes without heating assistance this winter.

The office started after July 4 with a mass mailing to people who received assistance last year. It's also been running radio advertisements across the state and working with local social welfare offices to find those eligible.

It's working.

"Our applications are up 22 percent over last year," Moffi said. "We've now received more applications (than last year) and we are in the second week of October. We're hearing folks who say they've never had to ask for assistance before."

Last year the fuel assistance program helped 16,700 families with an average benefit of $456. The federal department of Health and Human Services estimates more than 32,000 Vermont families would be eligible for assistance.

The size of the fuel assistance checks, which are paid directly to fuel suppliers, depends on the number of people who qualify for the program.

"If we get five people who apply everybody gets a million dollars," Moffi said he liked to tell his staff in explaining how the money is divided.

The assistance usually manages to pay 40 to 45 percent of an eligible family's heating fuel bill.

The state gets its fuel assistance money from the federal Low Income Heating Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP. The state was budgeted to receive $6.4 million this year. But an emergency allocation added another $2.3 million to the pot and an effort in Congress to raise the LIHEAP budget could add another $3 million to that amount, Moffi said.

To qualify, a family can earn as much as 125 percent of the poverty level. But a family's income isn't taken at face value.

Among the factors that can affect a person's income are the number of children or elderly people in the home, whether or not anyone is handicapped and the cost of their day care.

Moffi said people have until the end of February to apply, but he encouraged people to do so as soon as possible.

Anyone interested in more information can call 1-800-479-6151.

http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/State/Story/14036.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 14, 2000


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