Summit County Board of Health approves $10.5 million health department budget for 2026

The Summit County Board of Health voted to approve the health department’s final 2026 budget, a presentation staff said totaled about $10,500,000 and reflected a 3.15% overall decrease from 2025 driven largely by one-time grant changes and reallocation.

Staff described programmatic adjustments intended to maximize impact: a one‑time grant (MRC Strong) ended, prompting a small reduction in travel and training while the department shifted some women’s health resources toward cancer screenings and partnerships with People’s Health Clinic. Jen, the department’s business manager, explained that the budget team evaluated fees-for-service and used forecasting (including an AI-assisted projection) to plan a projected increase in fee revenue. “We did an evaluation of our fees, just kind of looking at the past couple of years to see what money we had brought in around, like, environmental health and immunizations…and we increased that,” Jen said, noting an estimated 26% increase in fees-for-service revenue in the plan.

Board members asked about salary and benefit line items; staff said the county is providing a cost-of-living adjustment and merit increases (the transcript discussed a 2.7% cost-of-living figure plus an average 3% merit increase) while noting some overall salary reductions in the department due to attrition and lower starting wages for new hires. The board moved to approve the budget; a motion and second were made, a voice vote returned “Aye,” and the chair announced the budget approved.