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Memorial Day is the traditional beginning of summer and a time to honor the enormous sacrifice of our veterans in service to our nation. At your Auditor’s office, staff are preparing for a summer of engagement and bringing the office’s services out to the community at festivals, events, and fairs across the county.
The office plans to be everywhere, from the Ohio Black Expo to the Columbus Arts Festival to the Hilltop Bean Dinner and the Merion Village Festival. In June, staff will also attend numerous Pride and Juneteenth events, reflecting the office’s values of equity and inclusion.
Altogether, staff plan to attend scores of major events this summer, offering information on how the Auditor’s office can serve the community. The Mobile Office will also be out in neighborhoods and at events providing services and resources.
Information and resources will be available on dog licensing, property appraisals, affordable housing, the Board of Revision, the Homestead Exemption, rental registration, and many other useful programs run by the Auditor’s office.
Additionally, I will continue to hold weekly Community Hours meetings across the county, where residents can ask questions or let me know what is important to them.
I encourage everyone to stop by and visit our table at any of these events for information and resources, or even if you just have a question you want to ask. It’s all part of providing the very best service for the residents and businesses of Franklin County.
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Michael Stinziano
Franklin County Auditor |
Auditor’s office Holds Successful Affordable Housing Resources Fair, Shred Hunger Event
More than 200 people attended the Affordable Housing Resources Fair hosted by the Auditor’s office this past month. The event, held at the Westgate Community Center, featured resources offered by more than 30 community housing and social support organizations as well as on various family-friendly arts, crafts, and interactive activities. Several banks were also present with information on mortgages and other financial information. The office plans to hold more Affordable Housing fairs in the future.
In April, the office partnered with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) and St. Stephen’s Community House to hold “Shred Hunger,” an event that offered free document shredding and electronic waste recycling services and also accepted donations of food for the St. Stephens Food and Nutrition Center. For the event, the Auditor’s office won a grant from Ohio EPA to help cover the costs of e-recycling and shredding efforts.
 Auditor’s Open Finance Website, Tax Incentive Hub Win Awards
The county’s Open Finance Website, which provides an easy and intuitive way to find Franklin County fiscal information and fulfill public records requests, won a 2022 Tyler Excellence Award for its use of streamlined, optimized technology to improve transparency and resident engagement.
Tyler’s awards are given to organizations that use software to gain better organizational efficiency and responsiveness, create business value, inspire innovation, provide relevance, and respond to COVID-19.
According to Tyler’s description, “The deployment of the county’s Open Finance site has enabled county staff to increase efficiency by reducing time previously spent on generating reports in response to public records requests, allowing for good stewardship of tax dollars.”
The Auditor’s office has also won a 2022 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for its Tax Incentive Hub, a comprehensive website tool that details every tax incentive in use in Franklin County using GIS mapping technology.
The Hub features interactive maps that show where the incentives are in use down to the individual parcel level, the different types of incentives, data about the incentives, and the legislation that created each incentive. The maps can break down the tax incentives by municipality, so residents can see which are in use in their neighborhood and the financial impact of these programs to their community.
The Achievement Award will be presented at a NACo luncheon in July.
Employee Spotlight - Matt Jackson
One of the Auditor’s office employees who oversees the county’s fiscal operations and the Open Finance Website is Deputy Financial Officer Matthew Jackson. Matt works in the Auditor’s Fiscal Department to provide oversight of the county’s financial operations, including payroll, accounts payable, financial reporting, and budget & settlement.
“I enjoy the complexity and the problems I encounter on a daily basis,” he said. “With the Auditors office supporting all county agencies, there is always a new challenge to tackle that impacts Franklin County residents. Making the connections between the work we do and the impact it has keeps me engaged.”
Matt joined the office in April 2019.
Auditor’s Office Conducts Gas Pump Skimmer Inspections
Ahead of a busy Memorial Day weekend of traveling, Auditor’s office staff inspected gas pumps across the county and found no credit card skimmers.
Skimmers are devices used by would-be thieves to gather credit card information. No skimmers have been found since gas stations installed chip-enabled credit card readers, which were first required beginning in 2020. All inspected pumps are sealed with stickers that show they have been checked. If anyone suspects they have been a victim of fraud, call the Auditor’s office fraud hotline at (614) 525-SCAM.
Roush Hardware Wins May True Transactions Award
As residents stock up on charcoal and other supplies for the Memorial Day weekend, many will visit the family-owned Roush Hardware in Westerville and Dublin. The business is the May True Transactions Award winner for its outstanding use of accurate scales and scanners. “Congratulations to the hard-working team at Roush Hardware on winning the True Transactions Award,” Auditor Stinziano said. “Roush works closely with Weights and Measures to ensure accuracy in their scales and scanners as they serve the community.”
Roush is a full-service hardware store and rental center that has been in business for more than 60 years. It is located at 609 S. State St. in Westerville and 373 W. Bridge St. in Dublin.
 Community Hours
Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano continues to hold weekly Community Hours meetings where residents can stop by and visit, or join virtually via Facebook @mstinziano, and share firsthand their feedback and ideas about the Auditor’s office or any concerns they have.
Community Hours will be held at the dates and locations listed below.
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Thursday, June 2nd, 10am, in person at Kittie’s Cakes – 2424 E. Main St Bexley, OH 43209.
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Tuesday, June 7th, 11:30am, virtual La Chatelaine French Bakery and Bistro and the Village of Riverlea.
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Monday, June 13th, 2pm, virtual featuring Lombardi’s Dairy Diner and Lockbourne.
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Wednesday, June 22nd, 10:30am, virtual featuring La Plaza Tapatia and Franklin Township.
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Tuesday, June 28th, 10am, in person at Clinton Township Hall – 3820 Cleveland Ave Columbus, OH 43224
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