Earlier this year, the Ohio General Assembly appropriated $10 million in House Bill 730 towards counties’ SNAP administrative costs. Because H.R. 1 was passed by Congress, states must cover a much larger share of the cost of running this federal program.
The cost shift increases the states/counties administrative costs from 50 percent to 75 percent of administrative costs to run SNAP (starting in FFY 2027, beginning October 1, 2026).
Besides higher administrative costs, the new flat funding model is imbalanced
Historically, Ohio has allocated SNAP administrative funding so that resources followed caseloads. The House plan breaks from that precedent, as we wrote in March 2026. Instead of targeting dollars to counties facing the largest federal cuts, a limited pool of state and federal resources is distributed evenly across county Job and Family Service departments, stopping once a county’s expected loss is met or the money runs out.
Counties serving the most people are asked to absorb the largest losses. They must divert local dollars to meet this unfunded mandate.
Under this approach, 59 counties facing federal funding losses under $220,000 are fully covered. Seven other counties have at least 75 percent of their costs covered. The remaining county Job and Family Service departments receive the same capped amount, a combined $226,486 of federal and state dollars, regardless of the scope of expected federal funds reduction. This includes South Central JFS which comprises Ross, Hocking, and Vinton counties.
TABLE: Estimated Supplemental Payment of County Administered SNAP Program
The state’s additional contribution is appreciated, but does not come close to filling the gap in many of Ohio’s counties, while at the same time making other counties whole, at least for this first year.
The state has issued the Fiscal Administrative Procedure Letter (FAPL) laying out the per county allocation and is accepting comments on the letter until September 29, 2026.
Share feedback before September 29
On the ODJFS webpage, look for 9199 Additional SNAP Administration Funding FAPL and the Comment button on the right. Or click on Additional SNAP Administration Funding link to review the table and read more from the state.
.png)
