State veterans' services vary widely, audit finds

Updated: January 23, 2008 - 10:06 PM

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The state's system for administering veterans' benefits varies widely from county to county, and the state has few systems in place to monitor how county veterans' service officers do their jobs, an audit has determined.

About 40 percent of the state's counties have less than one full-time service officer and most do not have full-time support staff, the Minnesota Legislative Auditor found.

Spending on veterans appears to vary greatly by county, ranging from $5 per veteran to $125. Veterans from counties with well-staffed offices are more likely to receive benefits. Veteran-to-staff ratios ranged from 350-to-one to more than 11,000-to-one.

After World War II, Minnesota created county veteran services offices to help veterans and their families obtain the federal and state benefits for which they were eligible.

The Legislative Auditors report, released Wednesday, recommends that the Legislature require county service officers to collect and submit uniform information about their duties.

An estimated 402,000 veterans lived in Minnesota last year, when the audit was conducted. Ninety-four percent were male and most were between the ages of 45 and 64.

Thirty-five percent served during the Vietnam era, 17 percent during the Gulf War, 12 percent during the Korean War and 11 percent during World War II.

Mark Brunswick