Hamilton County auditor outlines property-tax tools, rental rules and new website features

Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda visited the Delhi Township Board of Trustees on Sept. 24 to review the auditor’s office responsibilities, outreach tools and several programs that affect local homeowners and landlords.

Miranda said the auditor’s office functions like the county’s chief financial officer, describing its duties as “to think of us as the county’s CFO, the chief financial officer.” She told trustees the office pays county bills, serves as payroll agent for more than 5,000 county employees, assesses roughly 350,000 parcels and participates in the county board of revision and county budget commission processes.

The presentation emphasized three programs that residents can check on the auditor’s website: the mandatory rental registration form required under Ohio law; the homestead exemption available to homeowners 65 and older (currently subject to a $40,000 gross-income cap); and the owner-occupancy credit, a 2.5% reduction in property tax for primary residences. Miranda said rental registration is a state requirement and asked township staff to refer properties that may be noncompliant.

Miranda described upgrades to the auditor’s website, including a search bar, a translation tool and new accessibility controls to comply with federal requirements that government websites be accessible in 2026. She highlighted a property-summary pie chart on the site that breaks down how each property-tax dollar is distributed among taxing districts, saying the graphic promotes transparency about school levies and other tax recipients.

Miranda also reviewed other consumer-facing services the office runs: dog licensing, which she said helps reunite lost pets with owners, and a weights-and-measures unit that tests gas pumps and deli scales. She noted a recent forfeited-land sale held Sept. 9 that disposed of many county-owned parcels and reported a strong turnout and high closure rate for that sale.

On property reappraisals, Miranda explained the triennial (every three years) and mass (every six years) appraisal cycles, saying the next triennial update is 2026 and the last mass appraisal took place in 2023. She encouraged trustees to refer constituents to a short video series and Q&A on the auditor’s board-of-revision web page that explains how to file a complaint if they dispute assessed values.

Miranda urged local officials to support pending state legislation to modify the homestead exemption — proposals include indexing the exemption to inflation, removing or raising the income cap, or otherwise increasing relief for seniors. She said members of a state property-tax working group that includes county officials would soon release recommendations.

“Check your own parcel when you go home tonight,” Miranda said, noting the parcel pages show whether a property has rental registration, the homestead exemption or the owner-occupancy credit.

The trustees thanked Miranda for the presentation and for outreach efforts across Hamilton County.