Stark County approves 2026 spending items, sets community contributions and ambulance support
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Summary
The Stark County Board of Commissioners finalized multiple budget items Oct. 9, approving community contributions, ambulance funding and other allocations while leaving some requests for later review.
Stark County commissioners approved several budget items and community contributions during their Oct. 9 meeting, including increases for local service providers and one-time allocations to emergency services and community nonprofits.
The actions formalize support the county will provide in 2026 for ambulance services, domestic-violence providers and other community groups and set aside funds for the county fair. The decisions follow staff presentations and requests documented in the commission packet.
Commissioners voted to allocate $500,000 to Dickinson Ambulance, $240,000 to Belfield ambulance service and $10,000 to Richardson-Taylor ambulance service. The board also approved increasing contributions for domestic-violence services to $50,000 and the Family Connection Center (supervised visitation) to $50,000. Community Action received $25,000; Best Friends Mentoring received $20,000; and Vision West membership was funded at $1,600.
On the fair and parks question, after debate about oversight and reporting, commissioners agreed to fund the Stark County Fair Association at $125,000 rather than an originally proposed $250,000. Commissioners said they want more transparency from the fair association about how funds are spent and signaled they will seek additional detail at follow-up meetings.
Not every request passed unchanged: a proposed $250,000 county contribution to the Dickinson Library failed on a tie vote. Commissioners said they expect groups that receive public funds to provide clear budgets or reports in the future.
The funding decisions were captured in roll-call votes during the meeting. Commissioners and staff said they will use the approved figures to finalize the county’s 2026 budget in a short, follow-up session this week and that some items (including additional, event-specific payments) will require separate approvals.
Quotes in the meeting stressed the need for accountability: “I wish that we would get some input back from these people,” Commissioner Claris said during the discussion, calling for regular reporting by organizations that receive county money.
Next steps: staff will finalize the updated budget worksheets and bring a final version to commissioners on Thursday for a short meeting to meet statutory deadlines. Several commissioners said they expect continuing conversations with grantees about reporting and conditional funding.