OFFICIALS EXPECT MORE TO APPLY THIS YEAR FOR HEATING ASSISTANCE

A recession is expected to send more people here in search of help with paying their heating bills this winter, says an official with the Missouri Division of Family Services in Cape Girardeau County.

On Monday the office in Cape Girardeau began taking applications for the Missouri Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The applications are being taken for the period from December to March. They may be submitted until March 31.

The program helps people pay their heating bills by crediting money towards their main fuel supplier for their heating source. How much is credited depends on factors including the size of the family, its monthly income, and the type of fuel used for heating.

Peggy Berry, income maintenance supervisor with the office, said the number of program applicants served Monday was up over the number of first-day applicants in 1990.

"Yesterday our office was heavy with traffic for the energy assistance program," she said Tuesday. The office, she said, handled 11 program applicants, five of whom had received utility disconnect notices. The other six had received termination notices, she said.

"It was a hectic day for us, but it was because of the first day. And we were only taking applications for those people who had been terminated by the utility companies," said Berry. Berry said people who did not have their utilities turned off were given appointments to fill out an application and be interviewed later.

She said she had no figure for the number of first-day applications in 1990.

Berry said the office will be seeing more people about the program because of the recession. A lot of the people who visited or called the office Monday about the program mentioned they had been laid off from their jobs, she said.

"Last year we served 1,400 (applicants). We feel like we will serve that many this year, if not more."

The recession, she said, has recently posed a continuous problem for the office. The number of applicants the office has accepted in other categories of assistance is also up. For example, Berry said, there are applicants for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, medical assistance, and food stamps.

Energy assistance program applicant Betty Goodman said, without the state program, she and her husband, Richard, would probably be without electric and heat because they couldn't pay their bill. Goodman, a Cape Girardeau housewife, said she made use of the program last year.

"My husband's disabled and we don't have that much of an income, and we just can't hardly afford to pay our bills," she said. "It sure comes in handy. I don't know what we would have done last year."

Only Cape Girardeau County residents may apply at the Cape Girardeau office. Applicants should call the office at 290-5800 to schedule an appointment.

To qualify, an applicant's resources any liquid assets like bank savings, stocks or bonds must be under $5,500, Berry said.

A one-person household must also have a maximum income of $689 a month. The maximum monthly income level increases to $925 for a two-person household, $1,160 for a three-person household, and $1,395 for a four-person household. The scale continues for larger households.

Berry asked applicants to bring five items with them when applying: documentation of Social Security numbers for all household members; the most recent fuel bill from the supplier for the home's main heating source; proof of all income sources for all household members (if a person is self-employed, a copy of his or her most recent federal tax return is necessary); proof of age if 60 or older; and proof of the amount of any cash and securities owned by any household member, such as a person's most recent checking account statement.