By the end of next year, counties in New York State could pay over $1 billion annually to keep the food stamp program running. Erie County taxpayers will pay about $6.4 million this year alone.
The cost of helping hungry New Yorkers is about to go up by over $1 billion annually and local taxpayers could foot the bill.
Later this fall, counties across the state will pay more to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, running after a sharp decline in federal support.
Over 2.7 million New Yorkers are enrolled in SNAP, also known as food stamps; last year, the average household received $376 in monthly benefits. For decades, the costs of administering the program — from processing applications to issuing benefit cards — were evenly split between the federal government and states…