FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Thousands of dollars in checks meant to go to survivors of the December 2021 tornadoes in western Kentucky were canceled after being sent to some unaffected by the storms in error.
Many unqualified people alerted the Treasurer’s Office and Public Protection Cabinet by phone they had received money they didn’t deserve. State Treasurer Allison Ball talked to 13 News Lexington affiliate FOX 56 about the misdirected funds.
“This money obviously is for people who are in need. You know, at the end of the day what I want to see is these victims made whole, rebuilding their lives,” Ball said.
The western Kentucky relief fund was set up to help victims of the deadly tornadoes in December of 2021. It asked people from all over the world to donate.
“In this account. And we’ve been monitoring it for, you know, over a year now. Just keeping an eye on it and trying to make sure that it’s operating the way that it’s supposed to,” Ball said.
Ball said the public protection cabinet issued more than 10 million dollars from the fund late last year. In $1,000 increments.
“Well, shortly after those checks went out, we started getting phone calls from people right away, saying you know, I got this check in the mail. I was not impacted by the tornadoes. I don’t know why I’ve gotten it. And we’ve gotten calls like that ever since then,” Ball said.
Ball said so far her office has received about 200 calls from people who are not victims. More than 100,00 checks were issued.
“So we’ve canceled all the checks that we know about. One of the challenges is the Public Protection Cabinet has told us that they don’t know how many erroneous checks are out there because we only know who has contacted us,” Ball said.
The state treasurer has called for an annual audit of the Team Western Kentucky fund and similar funds for better transparency and accountability.
“It’s set up in an unusual way. It’s essentially a GoFundMe account, and it’s not subject to the usual government rules that govern Kentucky’s money. So, I don’t have a lot of tools available for oversight,” Ball said.
Gov. Andy Beshear brushed off criticism of the way the fund has been handled. Saying it has done a tremendous amount of good. But no system is perfect.
The tornado relief fund has raised more than $52 million from private donors. Those who received checks were identified as tornado victims either by insurance companies or FEMA.
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Thousands of dollars in checks meant to go to survivors of the December 2021 tornadoes in western Kentucky were canceled after being sent to some unaffected by the storms in error.
According to State Treasury Communications Director Matt Fray, in early December, the Public Protection Cabinet issued over 10,000 checks from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund. The checks totaled over $10 million and were sent in $1,000 increments.
Within days though, the Kentucky Treasury and PPC were receiving calls from people who received checks but weren’t affected by the storms.
The treasurer’s office has canceled payment on 184 checks and the Kentucky State Treasury doesn’t know how many more checks may need to be canceled.
According to FEMA, over 2,300 individual assistance applications were approved, which totaled nearly $16 million in grants.
Since being announced in December 2021, the tornado relief fund has raised over $52.3 million from over 150,000 donations from individuals and organizations.