Audit: Minn. overpaid stimulus jobless benefits

Published 1:19 pm Saturday, April 9, 2011

ST. PAUL (AP) — A new audit says the state of Minnesota overpaid as much as $3.2 million in extra unemployment benefits tied to the federal stimulus.

The legislative auditor’s report released Friday urged the Department of Employment and Economic Development to try to recover the money.

It says the agency mistakenly paid out $25 weekly supplements authorized by the stimulus to some ineligible recipients because its computer system failed to flag the overpayments.

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DEED Commissioner Mark Phillips says the department struggled to keep up with internal accounting as the federal government extended unemployment benefits five times from late 2009 through 2010.