Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda told the Evendale Village Council on the evening the auditor's office serves as the county's chief financial officer, managing budgets, issuing county checks and administering property assessments and several relief programs.

Miranda, who said she represented the area previously in the Ohio State House, walked council through the office's functions — including the Board of Revision process for property-value complaints, rental registration administration, dog licensing and the weights-and-measures consumer protection unit. She also promoted a redesigned auditor website that includes an accessibility plugin, translation tools, a searchable parcel database and a tax-distribution pie chart that shows where each property-tax dollar is allocated.

Miranda highlighted the county's appraisal schedule: inspectors update parcel records via permit activity year-round, the office conducts a triennial desktop appraisal (noting a triennial review scheduled this year) and the next mass reappraisal was moved toward 2030 after a recent statement from the governor. "We keep tabs of the county budget. We are the ones writing all of the checks that are outgoing from the county, and we keep the books whole and, most importantly, transparent here in the county," she said.

On property-tax relief, Miranda said the homestead exemption for seniors has not kept pace with rising home values. She said the county's average home value rose from about $155,000 in 2014 to about $262,000 in 2024 (a roughly 69% increase), while the homestead exemption increased only about 7.4% (from $565 to about $607) and has an income-eligibility cap of roughly $41,000. Miranda urged council members to join county auditors in advocating state lawmakers to expand or better index the homestead exemption so it more effectively aids seniors on fixed incomes.

She also asked Evendale to coordinate any local rental-registration program with the county's rental records to reduce fraud and make landlord information consistent across jurisdictions. Miranda noted tools on the auditor's website that flag whether a parcel is registered as rental property and link to the county's registration form.

The presentation concluded with a brief question-and-answer exchange about recently proposed state budget provisions affecting county authority over school-related millage; Miranda said Hamilton County elected not to exercise a provision that would have reduced certain school-district funding in the county.

The auditor left printed materials and contact information and encouraged residents and local officials to use the office's online resources and to contact state lawmakers about property-tax policy changes.