ASHLAND — Commissioners approved Ashland County’s overall spending plan for 2026 just two days before Christmas, but there was nothing jolly about it as discussions around increases to juvenile courts swirled.
Nevertheless, commissioners signed off on a $21.1 million budget across all departments.
The plan reflects a 5-percent increase from 2025 numbers, with additional county general funding going to wages, insurance and increased costs for some services.
Top 5 departments seeing increases
- Probate court office: 69.7% (wages and benefits, supplies, travel and “other expenses”)
- Juvenile court office: 50.5% (wages and benefits, supplies, travel, “other expenses,” attorney fees)
- County sheriff: 20.6% (wages and benefits, sheriff contract, furtherance of justice)
- Sheriff corrections division: 20.3% (wages and benefits, clothing allowance)
- General insurance: 17.3% (workers compensation, group/liability, property)
Top 5 departments seeing decreases
- County recorder: -34.2% (contract services)
- Election board: -7.7% (election day service, contract service)
- Common pleas: -7.6% (capital case fee)
- Auditor: -7.3% (wages and benefits)
- Prosecutor: -2.4% (wages and benefits)
*Parentheses represent which line items are contributing to the increase or decrease.
Source: The Ashland County Board of Commissioners’ approved 2026 appropriations document. Click here for a PDF version.
Commissioners were expected to vote on a 2026 budget at the Dec. 18 meeting, but discussions around the Ashland County Juvenile Court’s spending plan delayed that plan.
Ashland County commissioner Jim Justice sought clarity on court-ordered increases to juvenile and probate wage line items.
At the time, Kellogg explained the increases by pointing to smaller subsidies received from the state because of her office’s increase in felony adjudications.
The state’s grant system is based on a formula that generates credit. A court gets a credit for placing a child in a DYS correctional or treatment facility. The more credits used, the less funding a court receives.
‘No feedback, no direction’
Kellogg returned Tuesday and disagreed with the notion that her courts’ budget line items were increasing by huge amounts and challenged the commissioners’ apparent surprise by those hikes.
She said commissioners did not question the courts’ budget proposal, first submitted in May, until Dec. 18.
“During that time period, no feedback, no direction was provided to me as an office holder regarding the county’s financial condition going into 2026,” Kellogg said.
She added that commissioners were made aware of the upcoming changes from state grant funding to the court. Further, she said commissioners based questions off “inaccurate budget data” during the Dec. 18 meeting.
Specifically, the judge said Justice had pointed to the commissioners’ approved 2025 budget line items, instead of looking to the “amended” budget that commissioners ratified in January.
In the weeds: how do you look at it?
- Juvenile court employee wages in 2025:
- Approved: $365,467.44
- Amended: $371,872.90
- Requested in 2026: $536,648.50
- The change between the “approved” line item and “requested” line item is 46.8%.
- But the change between the “amended” line item and the “requested” line item is 44%.
- Probate court wages in 2025:
- Approved: $109,400.20
- Amended: $174,290.96
- Requested in 2026: $191,899
- The change between the “approved” line item and the “requested line item is 75%.
- But the change between “amended” line item and the “requested” line item is 10%.
So what’s the proper way to view it?
According to Ashland County Auditor Cindy Funk, it doesn’t really matter.
“There’s still an increase,” she said.
A spirited discussion
At times, the discussion between commissioners and Kellogg got heated as they disagreed over interpretations.
At one point, Justice suggested the budget process was complicated, but Kellogg pushed back.
“In all fairness to the public, this is very complicated, right?” Justice posed to Kellogg.
“No, it’s not complicated.”
“Yes, it is, ma’am. It is, it is complicated — I’m sorry for raising my voice. But it is complicated to put all the budgets together and get everything right. This is the whole county, it’s not just your budget,” Justice said.
Worked up, Justice referred to the commissioners’ meeting room as a court after a brief interruption as he was explaining why he couldn’t meet “last minute” to talk about the budget on a Sunday afternoon. (Kellogg texted the commissioners Sunday suggesting a meeting.)
“No it wasn’t last minute, Mr. Justice —”
“Excuse me, judge, it’s my court,” he said.
“Oh, it’s your court? This is a court?” she said.
“You can call it a court, you can call it — you can say it’s our meeting. Our meeting. Excuse me for saying that, it’s our meeting, and we’ll direct the meeting,” Justice said.
Listen to the discussion here. Kellogg begins speaking at the 14:40 mark.
Appeal?
Kellogg’s 2026 budget request included a court order to increase wages for the juvenile and probate court employees and an increase to the detention center contract services line item.
State law allows courts to do this, as long as the court justifies those increases. County commissioners can modify those budgets if they can show the request is “unreasonable and unnecessary,” according to Ohio Revised Code.
The Ashland County Board of Commissioners can appeal Kellogg’s court-ordered budget. For that to happen, however, the commissioners would have to hire a visiting judge, a special prosecutor and attorneys.
The commissioners are not set to meet before the new year. The next meeting will be Jan. 8, 2026.