Government House clarifies OMB still working to distribute $500 stipends

“I didn’t have the most updated information yesterday. There are about 2,000 unclaimed checks at OMB and they are currently working on an outreach strategy to get those checks to those recipients,” Motta said in a message Tuesday.

In response to questions from The Daily News, Motta said during Monday’s Government House press briefing that all eligible Social Security recipients have received the $500 stipend checks they were promised.

“Everyone who was eligible, based on the listing that we received from the Social Security Administration, was paid,” Motta said at the time.

He noted that the payments were made to individuals who received Social Security up until March 2020, and those who began receiving Social Security after that date will also be getting payments after the administration receives an updated list from the Social Security administration.

After reporting that statement, The Daily News received messages from individuals who said they had been receiving Social Security prior to March 2020, but never got a $500 stimulus check, and their calls to OMB were not being returned.

Former Sen. Janelle Sarauw said her family members are among those who had been receiving Social Security prior to March 2020, but are still waiting on the $500 stimulus checks.

“If the government claims they used the SS system, then those 2,000 checks would have been claimed. However, they did not. The distribution process was flawed,” Sarauw said Tuesday.

“Lastly, the recipients that I know were told the same thing. Yes there are unclaimed checks, but there are also checks that were never cut. There’s a group of people who did not receive their stipend and the administration is aware of that,” she said.

Bryan first announced his intention to use federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act to give out $500 stipends to 22,000 Social Security recipients one day before the Nov. 8 general election.

The announcement was not timed to win favor with voters, Motta told The Daily News at the time.

Elderly and disabled residents were initially instructed to wait in line in parking lots, or provide their information to the Office of Management and Budget and wait to receive their check in the mail.

The chaotic rollout led to pandemonium at the distribution site on St. Thomas, where the V.I. Fire and Emergency Medical Service distributed water to hundreds of people waiting in the sweltering heat, and at least four people fainted while waiting for checks on St. Croix.

Bryan and Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach were re-elected to a second term, beating out former Sen. Kurt Vialet and Sarauw.

Sen. Donna Frett-Gregory questioned the timing of the announcement during a recent committee hearing, and criticized the government for failing to distribute all of the checks.

Finance Commissioner Bosede Bruce said at the February hearing that a total of 21,059 stipend checks have been processed for eligible Social Security recipients, and “we successfully distributed 19,269 checks, totaling $9,634,500 and have 183 checks for recipients who are deceased. These checks will be returned to the Department of Finance to adjust the accounting system and void those checks.”

There are also “32 checks that were returned to OMB and 1,575 checks with incomplete or bad addresses. We are in the process of creating a database and a technology-driven solution whereby eligible Social Security residents who have not received a stipend check can enter their name and other pertinent information into a web-based application for further processing,” she said.

For those without access to computers, Bruce said they would take “alternative measures” to reach them, “including publishing names in the newspaper of the 1575 recipients that we don’t have addresses for. This system is expected to be live by the middle of March.”

Residents who did not receive the $500 stipends and who previously followed instructions by OMB to email correct addresses, however, say they have yet to receive a response.