Last spring, I wrote about some people in and around Charleston, West Virginia, who were about to receive a check in the mail for $525. Many of the poorest people among them were wondering if they should tear it up and throw it away.
It all began in January 2014, when 5,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a chemical used in coal processing, leaked into the Elk River, a source of the local water supply. The chemical was stored in ruptured tanks owned by Freedom Industries.
The federal government declared a state of emergency. West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin ordered everyone in Charleston and nine surrounding counties to not consume or use the water for bathing or anything else. The National Guard brought in tankards full of water.
A class-action lawsuit was filed and as the result of the 2016 settlement, the head of every household affected by the leak was entitled to receive compensation of approximately $525. Each additional resident of the household could receive about $170.
But Bruce Perrone, advocacy support counsel for Legal Aid of West Virginia, said his office fielded a lot of calls from people receiving monthly Social Security Supplemental Income payments. Disabled people and people age 65 and older who rely on SSI can get a maximum monthly payment of $750. So to them an extra $525 is a major windfall. So many people were worried that accepting the money would be considered an overpayment by the local Social Security office, causing an equal sum to be deducted from one of their future SSI checks.
In response, Perrone’s staff contacted people at the Social Security Administration headquarters and received what he called “informal indications,” but no official assurance, that no one would be penalized.
Well, in September, nearly 200,000 settlement checks were distributed to residents and business owners affected by the Kanawha Valley water crisis. Heads of households received $482 and other household members received $157. Each recipient also was given a flyer saying that those on SSI must report the payment to Social Security within ten days, but that doing so shouldn’t have a negative impact.
So far, so good. Perrone says his office has heard no reports of people being hassled by Social Security.
But people on SSI cannot have more than $2,000 in assets. So the flyer warned them to spend the money fast because if the cash from the settlement check put them over the asset limit at the beginning of the month after receiving the check, their SSI payment for that month could be cut off.
“I don’t think our people will have any trouble spending their money,” Perrone says.
Yeah, it’s not like someone with a monthly income of $750 or less can sock away $482 for a rainy day. Every day is a rainy day.