Switch to One-Check Welfare Plan Considered : Aid: County proposal would save about $1.1 million annually. Some activists say the change would bring hardship, while others say it would benefit recipients.

Los Angeles County officials may switch to a system of issuing a single welfare check each month rather than two, a change that would affect 285,000 families.

The proposal would save the county about $1.1 million annually in mailing and other costs. But it has triggered complaints from some welfare rights activists and recipients.

“There may literally be starvation as people run out of money at the end of the month,” said Tony De La Rosa, executive director of the Los Angeles Center for Law & Justice, which provides free legal services to poor residents of East and Northeast Los Angeles. “There’s just too much month at the end of the money.”

“You’ll just end up spending the money on stupid things if you get it all at once and then complain it’s not enough,” said Magali Torres, 18, a Glendale resident who receives a monthly grant of $515 for herself and her 4-month-old daughter.

But other welfare rights advocates and recipients of Aid to Families With Dependent Children applauded the plan.

“I’d rather have it in one lump sum than get charged a $40 late fee every month by my landlord,” said Shannon Bennyhoff, 20, a Panorama City resident who said that the first $293.50 check does not cover her $327 share of the monthly rent.

“It will be very convenient for many people,” said Clare Pastore, an attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

The county began exploring the idea after the state adopted regulations in January that allow counties to issue one AFDC check a month instead of two for the first time in 25 years.

If the county adopts the one-check system, it will be consistent with the majority of counties nationwide serving most of the 4.9 million families on AFDC, said Gary Ashcraft, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

California began issuing checks twice a month in 1968 for several reasons, including a desire to mirror the way many employees are paid and to keep more cash in county coffers, state officials said.

Counties were given the option of returning to the less expensive one-check system after Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed legislation in September that would have made it mandatory, said Leza Davis, a legislative assistant to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale).

In his veto message, the governor said he rejected the bill to give counties more flexibility.

So far, more than half of California’s 58 counties have switched or plan to switch to the one-check system, according to the state Department of Social Services.

Although the savings are relatively small, “every dollar counts, especially now when we’re looking at incredible cuts,” said Carol Baenziger, a spokeswoman for San Diego County. The county is saving about $400,000 annually, or about 8% of the $4.6-million cost of administering its welfare programs.

In Los Angeles County, the projected savings of $1.1 million represents only 1.5% of the $71.2 million the welfare department spends in administrative costs. Most of the savings are in mailing, printing and handling costs. The department also hopes to save staff time devoted to unsnarling problems related to the loss or theft of about 2,000 mid-month checks, said Jacob Aguilar, head of program planning.

The county will propose the plan at public meetings held every month by welfare officials in each of the county’s 30 districts. The final decision is up to Eddy Tanaka, director of the welfare department.

“We’re finding thus far we’re getting a very, very positive reaction,” Aguilar said.

The county may exempt some welfare recipients, including hardship cases and large families who receive checks that are difficult to cash because of the relatively large amounts of $1,200 or more involved, said Roberta Kiehl, the county’s AFDC program administrator.