Ohio food banks warn over less funding in governor’s budget proposal

Have you seen the price of eggs? The cost of groceries continues to be a challenge for many Ohioans. And while a rising wave of bird flu gets most of the credit, the Consumer Price Index ticked higher in January for the fourth month running.

Service providers in Ohio’s food assistance network argue it’s only getting harder for people to afford enough to eat, and as a result they’re serving more people than they ever have, so they ask why state and federal leaders are considering steps that would put less money into food assistance programs.

Dollars and cents

The biggest nationwide program for food is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, which helps households at or below 130% of the federal poverty line purchase food. For a three-person household that’s about $33,600 a year. An estimate from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities put that family’s average monthly benefit at about $600.

The federal government covers the cost of benefits and splits the cost of administration with states. Funding for the program is part of the Farm Bill, which pairs backstop funding for farmers with food support for families who need it. Republican lawmakers are considering big cuts to SNAP as part of a new farm bill. Politico reports the reduction could be as much as $150 billion.

In addition to SNAP, Ohio’s food assistance network operates through a system of food banks and food pantries. Think of the food bank as a warehouse distribution hub and the pantry as a customer-facing store.

Ohio Association of Foodbanks Executive Director Joree Novotny explained they serve people up to 200% of the federal poverty line.

“It’s about 3.4 million Ohioans who live in households that are under that income limit,” she said “SNAP in Ohio, there’s only about 1.5 million Ohioans who are currently eligible and participating. So, there’s a wide gap of people who are maybe experiencing food hardship that can’t turn to the SNAP program for help, that are still going to lean on us.”

But in the governor’s proposed budget, food banks are set to receive $7.5 million less than they did in the prior budget cycle — moving from $32 million in the previous budget to $24.5 million in the current proposal. In the document detailing his ideas, known as the Blue Book, Gov. Mike DeWine explains that funding was a one-time appropriation.

“We’re serving more people than we ever have,” Novotny said. “July through December of 2024, we served more food pantry visitors in six months than we ever have in any six-month period.”

That pencils out to 4 million food pantry visits per quarter, she explained. And if federal officials make good on cutting SNAP, that will only increase the pressure.

“Anything that’s going to erode access to SNAP,” she argued, “is going to lead to more people at our doors, more often — absolutely.”

Novotny said there are about 70,000 older Ohioans getting the minimum SNAP benefit — about $23 a month.

“So, you know, it’s a coupon,” she said. “It gets them some milk and some bread, maybe some eggs if they’re there, and then they’re gonna turn to us for increasing help. And living on those fixed incomes, food is really what gets squeezed at the end of the month.”

Susan Roark is a pastor at Faith Fellowship in Circlevile, Ohio, and for the past few years her church has been operating a food pantry. She expressed disappointment in the governor’s budget not maintaining food bank funding.

“I feel like whatever was behind that decision was not well informed,” she suggested, “may not have been connected well with people, boots on the ground, who are actually, distributing food and seeing the need.”

She said they’ve seen dramatic increases in demand in the past three years.

“We’ve all seen at the grocery store, prices are going up and up and up,” she said. “And what it takes to feed just a family of four now, the dollars — people just can’t afford it.”

State budget

DeWine introduced his $218 billion biennial budget early this month, and although Novotny is concerned about a smaller bottom-line figure for food banks, there are some positives for the people she serves as well. In particular, she thinks DeWine’s $1,000 refundable child tax credit would help make ends meet for young families.

But DeWine’s proposal is just a proposal, and House lawmakers are already deep into hearings to come up with changes of their own.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman acknowledged that broadly speaking, less money for food assistance at the current moment isn’t easy to justify. But he insisted it’s important for lawmakers to take a close look at programs’ efficacy.

“I think in some situations, in some of the food banks, it hasn’t been very effective in terms of how they’re spending the money and how things are getting out to people,” he said. “So all of these programs, which, you know, most of them are very beneficial, always need to be reviewed and say, are we doing this the best way we can?”

“That’s why it’s a two-year budget cycle,” he added, “And so I think it’s worth asking that set of questions again.”

House Finance Chairman, state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, was more skeptical about food banks’ claims of unprecedented need.

“How is that possible?” he asked in disbelief.

Stewart noted unemployment is low and there are tons of jobs waiting to be filled. “Food banks are meant to be a supplement,” he argued, noting we’re not in the depths of COVID-19 or the Great Recession, and saying it’s natural then that funding would diminish.

“Ears are open to everything,” Stewart said. “But I’m telling you, I think most members are looking at this and saying, it’s going to be a part of the budget, but maintaining a level of funding that we had at the worst economic times we’ve had is just probably not going to be what we do.”

House Minority Leader Allison Russo, meanwhile, is well-acquainted with the growing need in Ohio’s food assistance network. The governor’s budget proposal, she explained, returns funding levels to the previous baseline, but back then, food banks were helping only about 60% of their current clients. She argued that demand is higher because cost of living expenses — housing as well as groceries — are stretching budgets.

“Our food banks are facing increasing demands that they’ve never faced before because of those factors — housing and rising grocery costs — and they’re getting less and less money,” she said. “And so, what that means, if we are not able to step up and fill that need, is that we are going to have more families, more children going hungry.”

Although her party is in the minority, Russo added food banks are an area where they can make an impact.

“There are Republicans who are also concerned about this,” she said. “This is not just a Democratic concern.”