YOUNGSTOWN — The Board of Mahoning County Commissioners will approve appropriations for the 2026 budget at next week’s meeting, with an expected increase of about $2.3 million.

Office of Management and Budget Director Jenn Pangio said she expects commissioners will allocate a total of $49.45 million to Mahoning County’s General Revenue Fund and $45 million for the Criminal and Administrative Justice Fund.

“The actual budget we’re approving will come out next week, and commissioners will review it before the weekly meeting,” she said.

County departments under the general fund requested a total of $51,737,767 — about $4 million more than what the board approved for the 2025 budget, but Pangio said her office cut that amount down by just over $2 million.

Last year, the criminal and administrative justice fund requested $40,100,000 and ended this year with a revised budget of $41,954,184. This year’s request for 2026 is $45,067,731 — just over what the proposed budget indicates they will actually receive.

That money supports the prosecutor’s office, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and jail, Emergency 911, Mahoning County Coroner’s Office and the Criminal Justice Administration.

In total, the county will likely increase the Criminal and Administrative Justice budget by $3,113,647 (.92%) and cut the general fund budget by $754,932 (1.44%). The net result is a year-over-year increase of about $2.36 million.

Pangio said the cuts to the budget reflect removal of big-ticket one-time expenses.

“Those one-time expenses, we don’t want to build those into the regular budget,” she said.

For example, if a department requests $200,000 to buy five new vehicles, the county would prefer to remove that amount from the regular budget and allow the department to make a separate request for the funds, so that next year’s budget does not reflect that amount and departments aren’t asking for additional funds they do not actually need for that year based on inflated prior allocations.

The process is important considering that most departments’ operating budgets, by the end of the year, are higher than what commissioners initially allocate.

In 2024, the board approved $47,665,000 for general fund and justice budgets, but the final revised budget for this year came to $52,492,699.

Pangio said that one of the reasons for that increase is that the county often pays local matching funds for grants received by different departments and communities in the county, among other additional costs that accrue over the year.

For 2026, most departments are requesting increases of between 1.5% and 10% [percentages are based on this year’s request compared to the revised budget, or what departments actually spent in 2025, not what they requested], but some are requesting decreases.

Most notably, the general fund will likely see a roughly $2.5-million (15.2%) decrease. The board approved $12.4 million for 2025 and the revised appropriations came to about $16.3 million. Commissioners are asking for about $13.8 million for 2026. Most of that reduction is attributable to a $2.74-million decrease in the commissioners’ general administration fund.

Other small decreases in appropriations can be found in Struthers Municipal Court (a 10% decrease of $8,770) and Campbell Municipal Court (a 14.1% decrease of $13,145) and a 16.7% decrease of $5,000 to a Mahoning County Probate Court fund that pays legal fees for indigent and mentally ill defendants. Probate court overall is requesting a $107,425 (5.82%) increase.

The allocations for the area county and municipal courts come from the general fund, not the criminal and administrative justice fund.

The most notable increases in the county’s general fund budget, by percentage, are found in the Human Resources Department (general fund) and the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.

Pangio said HR has a vacant position that needs to be filled, a human resources generalist. She said 50% of that is paid from the general fund and the other half from a specialized health care-focused fund. The office also has requested money for a new HR software module to streamline health-care benefit processing.

The Prosecutor’s Office is requesting a 21.9% increase of $149,379 under the heading of “prosecutor contracts,” which Pangio said is attributable to two assistant prosecutor positions that need to be filled. The prosecutor’s office, in general, is asking for an 11% increase of just over $700,000.

Juvenile Court is poised to receive a 12.5% increase of more than $947,000. Pangio said the cost can be attributed to food, electricity rates and building repairs. The Sheriff’s Office is asking for a $2.5-million (7.9%) increase. The only line-item cuts to the justice fund are a $30,000 (9%) cut to criminal administration and $161,000 (8.4%) to Emergency 911 services.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court — under the General Fund — is asking for a 12.38% increase of $250,000 to its judicial general fund, which goes to pay legal fees for indigent defendants, and Pangio said much of that is reimbursed through the Ohio Public Defender Commission. Common Pleas Court, in general, is asking for about $113,500 less than it used last year.

The court system is requesting an additional $16,500 (6.6%) for the probation department but a $28,000 cut from bailiff’s salaries, leading to a net cut of about $11,500 or just under 1%.

Veterans Services Commission will see a similar cut of 0.95% or about $30,000, and the Mahoning County Board of Elections reduced its ask by about $41,000 (1.13%).

Other notable increase requests under the General Fund are in the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Office — $212,738 (4.47%) and the Mahoning County Treasurer’s Office, for $149,335 (10.54%). Pangio said the treasurer’s costs are attributable to an increase in the office’s professional services costs, the need for temporary seasonal employees and the rising cost of postage.