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Hamilton County auditor explains assessor role, urges state action to restore homestead exemption
Summary
Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda told the Woodlawn council on May 27 that recent changes to the homestead exemption and lack of indexing for inflation have greatly reduced relief for senior homeowners; she urged local officials to lobby state lawmakers and described county tools for checking property values and rental registrations.
Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda visited the Village of Woodlawn council on May 27 to outline the auditor’s duties and press for changes to Ohio’s homestead exemption.
Miranda described the auditor’s office as the county’s financial steward and real-property assessor, responsible for parcel assessment cycles, the board of revision process and three statutorily assigned programs: rental registration, the homestead exemption and the owner-occupancy credit. "Think of your county auditor as the CFO of the county," she said, adding the office manages tools residents can use to check parcel records and tax-break eligibility.
Miranda said the county maintains an online property-search tool for ‘‘a little over 350,000’’ parcels and a tax-detail page that breaks out which local levies drive a homeowner’s bill. She emphasized that the auditor’s office does not set tax policy: "The auditor's office does not have the authority to outright lower your property taxes… tax policy is set by the state and our locally elected officials."
On the homestead exemption, Miranda said the program once provided meaningful relief to older Ohioans but now includes an income limit and has not been indexed for inflation, meaning the benefit has shrunk. She said the 2023 modified adjusted gross income household threshold is about $38,600 and described the program as reaching far fewer people than before. "If you have a lobbyist or someone that works on behalf of the village of Woodlawn that goes up to Columbus… the homestead exemption is something we really truly need to provide some kind of relief," Miranda said.
She urged Woodlawn officials to press state lawmakers to raise the threshold or otherwise restore the exemption’s value. Miranda said auditors across Ohio have repeatedly testified in Columbus and that bills have been introduced in multiple sessions but have not advanced through full committee. She named Rep. Dan Troy as a recent sponsor of related measures but did not provide a current bill number.
Miranda also walked council through practical services: a rental-registration database, a $150 fee that can be levied for unregistered rentals when violations are found, and an owner-occupancy credit that is automatically applied but can be corrected via the auditor’s office if a homeowner’s parcel record is wrong. She invited residents to contact the auditor’s office or use its website and noted the office’s outreach schedule; Miranda is tentatively scheduled to return to Woodlawn for a community session on Aug. 11 to discuss property taxes and related programs.
The council thanked Miranda for the presentation and asked staff to share her contact information with residents.
