Franklin County residents trying to reach a caseworker about food assistance are spending far longer on hold than they did before SNAP changes began the previous year. Average waits have climbed past an hour, from under 20 minutes, and a smaller share of calls are getting answered.
The longer holds come as the county agency describes more SNAP paperwork and no added staff to handle it. NBC4 obtained the call-center figures and reported that Franklin County Job and Family Services Director Michelle Lindeboom said on Oct. 1 that the program changes have meant more administrative work, without additional workers to do it. The bill for running that work is moving on a separate schedule.
What the Phone Line Is Doing
NBC4's data put the average wait to speak with a caseworker at over an hour, compared with under 20 minutes before the SNAP changes began the previous year. The call answer rate fell from 79.9% to 64.4%. Most calls are still answered. The drop still leaves a much bigger unanswered slice: about one call in five at the earlier rate, and more than one in three at 64.4%.
The offices behind that line handle heavy phone traffic in both directions. Franklin County JFS has said its offices make or receive more than 50,000 calls a month, ABC6 reported. That number is not a count of people parked on hold. It includes calls the offices place as well as calls they take. It is still the scale of the system residents are told to use when a case needs a person.
The county's recommendation is to request a courtesy callback rather than wait on hold, or to use the Benefits.Ohio.gov portal so some tasks never require a live conversation. On Oct. 15, a JFS spokesperson told NBC4 the agency would continue to review processes and procedures to decrease phone wait times, despite additional challenges and fewer resources.
Ohio counties have offered that kind of callback at a much shorter threshold. A 2018 report from the Center for Community Solutions described the County Shared Services Enterprise Call Center using virtual-hold technology that called customers back when the wait ran longer than five minutes, along with relatively short average waits. Franklin County has pointed residents toward a courtesy callback too. The average wait in the figures NBC4 obtained is an hour, not five minutes.
Who Pays to Run the Program
The shift underway is in who pays to administer SNAP. WOSU reported on Sept. 30 that, starting Oct. 1, the federal government would cover 25% of those administrative costs in Ohio, rather than 50%. Those funds, WOSU reported, are distributed to county Job and Family Services departments. NBC4 described the change as shifting 75% of administrative costs to the states, up from a 50/50 split.
The statewide dollar estimates are close, and they are not phrased as the same sum. NBC4 reported that Ohio would have to pay nearly $40 million more in SNAP administrative costs this year. WOSU estimated an immediate loss of around $38 million and said metro areas would be hardest hit.
The state allocated a smaller sum before that Oct. 1 date. WOSU reported that Ohio put around $12.5 million toward offsetting counties' losses in March, set against the same outlet's estimate of an immediate loss around $38 million. Franklin County's figure is a separate projection. NBC4 reported the county is projected to need $7.5 million over the next year to cover SNAP administrative costs. Lindeboom said the agency is having conversations with Franklin County commissioners about a funding solution for the deficit.
That projection is the local price of administration, the funding WOSU said flows to county departments that run the program. Lindeboom has already tied extra paperwork to the SNAP changes and said the agency had no additional workers for it. The commissioner talks are the route she has described for covering the gap.
January Brings Another Wave
The next addition to the queue already has a month on it. Ohio Poverty Law Center Director Josh Goodwin told NBC4 that new Medicaid requirements set to roll out in January will bring another influx of callers and more paperwork for JFS.
Those calls would hit the agency Lindeboom described on Oct. 1, one already doing more SNAP administrative work without additional workers. The hour-plus average NBC4 reported tracks the period after SNAP changes began the previous year. Goodwin was describing requirements set for January, after those waits were already on the books.
In Lucas County, a JFS director told WOSU that cutting staff to reduce the agency budget would create much longer turnaround times for eligibility processing and much longer waits on the phones. WOSU said metro areas would feel the administrative funding loss most sharply. Lindeboom's account in Franklin County came from the other direction: the SNAP work increased, and there were no additional workers to do it.
A courtesy callback or a website can pull some traffic off a live hold. Neither one adds the caseworkers Goodwin expects January's Medicaid requirements to demand, or the ones Lindeboom said were missing for SNAP in October.
A Thirty-Day Clock, Once You File
Reaching someone and getting a decision are not the same deadline. Ohio Administrative Code 5101:4-2-01 says an applicant household must be given an opportunity to participate no later than 30 days after the application is filed. Expedited service shall be available to households in immediate need.
Franklin County's application guidance says reviewing a completed application may take up to 30 days, and that cases are completed in the order received. The county's clock starts on a finished application and moves through the pile in the order it arrived. It does not start at the first ring. Someone who needs a worker to complete a file, ask about expedited service, or learn where a case sits in that order is waiting on a step the rule does not measure.
Hardship during a wait for benefits is not a new finding in Ohio. The Center for Community Solutions interviewed 156 people in 10 counties who applied for or reenrolled in Medicaid or SNAP between mid-2018 and mid-2020. Families experienced hardship while waiting for benefits, the study reported, and the authors recommended adequately funding and staffing county JFS offices. Overall, 76% of respondents reported a positive or neutral experience with their county office.
What Callers Can Do Now
Franklin County has put caseworkers in places other than a call queue. In 2020, JFS opened an office at the Reynoldsburg City Schools Welcome Center, The Columbus Dispatch reported, where a case manager was to be available for up to 20 hours each week to help eligible residents sign up for food, child care, and other assistance.
For the hold times NBC4 documented, the steps the agency has named are a courtesy callback, the Benefits.Ohio.gov portal, and a continuing review of processes and procedures. A spokesperson said on Oct. 15 that the review would go forward despite additional challenges and fewer resources. Alongside it, Lindeboom has commissioners in a conversation about a projected $7.5 million for SNAP administration over the next year. In January, Goodwin expects Medicaid requirements to add callers and paperwork to offices already past an hour on the phone.
The 30-day chance to participate still begins when an application is filed, and expedited service is still the track for households in immediate need. The call-center numbers describe the wait to reach the worker who handles that file. Those offices make or receive more than 50,000 calls a month, and their director says the SNAP workload grew without the staff growing with it.
