Legion duo objects to Vets fund proposal

Roy Lord and Charles Klaudt told Whitman County commissioners Monday morning that they objected to the proposed update to provisions for the county’s Veterans Relief Fund practice.

The fund’s revised policy includes a cap of $2,500 per veteran paid once a year. The county’s Veteran’s Advisory Board has approved the policy and forwarded it to the commissioners for their approval.

“This will impact 100 percent of the veterans who have been serviced by cutting back to once a year,” Lord told commissioners.

Lord, adjutant for the Codd-French American Legion Post in Colfax, works with veterans and distributes the funds once a veteran proves a need.

Auditor Eunice Coker said a tiny portion of county property taxes is set aside every year for the fund. She said typically the fund has $32,000 to $35,000 in it.

County commissioners in May 2008 created the Veterans’ Advisory Board.

The board advises the county of needs of local indigent veterans and targets the resources and programs available to meet their needs.

A 2005 law passed by the state legislature handed down the responsibility for such a board to county governments.

Lord also told commissioners Monday that veterans typically are at the poverty level and can’t manage money.

He said he doesn’t have an issue with the $2,500 cap.

“I have difficulty with one disbursement per year,” he said.

Lord said he can’t foresee the needs of veterans and disburse money as their needs arise.

Commissioners decided to table the issue until Nov. 3.

The veteran’s board meets on Oct. 21 and will discuss the issue, according to board chairperson Dorothy Sharp.

She said the board will discuss changing the proposal’s language to limit disbursement to $2,500 per veteran per year and that disbursement may be made more than once per year.

Lord said he wasn’t invited to the last board meeting when this issue was discussed, but he intends to be at Nov. 3 meeting. Sharp said Lord was invited via e-mail, but that he didn’t receive the notification until after the meeting.