A city-funded program has eliminated about $230,000 in delinquent property taxes for about 60 Cincinnati households.
The city launched the relief program in August with $250,000, but it cost only about $70,000 to eliminate debt so far.
"We would sell the tax lien to the Hamilton County Land Bank for the discounted rate of 30 cents on the dollar," said Hamilton County Treasurer Jill Schiller. "The land bank was contractually obligated to not sell or redeem that lien. It would just expire, and the remaining debt would be written off by my office."
Schiller says her office mailed notices to 250 homes that qualified for the program; that was homeowners who live in their single or two-family home, with a market value of $100,000 or less, and with less than $10,000 in delinquent property taxes.
Only 60 households responded to that initial outreach, and Schiller says they ran out of time to do outreach in other ways because of how late in the year the program launched.
"We do not have the opportunity to enroll more people at this time only because of the way in which we collect taxes, which is in arrears," Schiller said. "We have our first half [of] 2026 bills coming out in January. We would love to work with the city again to continue this program."
The program was funded in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which City Council approved in June. She says beginning outreach in March would allow more time for follow-up with eligible homeowners.
Participants made 1/5 payment into an escrow account, ensuring they would not fall behind again by paying property taxes in advance. They were given free financial counseling through the organization Working in Neighborhoods.
Schiller says the goal was to keep people in their homes if possible.
"The other part of it was to see if you cannot afford your house, then by bringing you current on your taxes, you have a more attractive property to offer on the open market," she said. "We'd like to see folks, if they do need to give up their house, be able to realize the growth in equity that has caused the growth in their property taxes and make their next move more comfortable, as opposed to walking away from the house or selling it to a 'will buy house for cash' type of a situation."
There's about $180,000 still available from the city's investment, which could be used for another round of property tax relief next year.
Eligible properties were identified in more than 30 neighborhoods. Here are the top 10:
| Neighborhood | Total eligible properties | Amount owed | Responses |
| South Fairmount | 32 | $76,572.48 | 6 |
| East Price Hill | 29 | $90,572.48 | 6 |
| Westwood | 19 | $55,996.43 | 3 |
| West Price Hill | 18 | $64,094.29 | 2 |
| Avondale | 17 | $56,569.11 | 4 |
| North Fairmount | 13 | $37,092.27 | 3 |
| Bond Hill | 12 | $45,778.71 | 5 |
| Carthage | 12 | $42,670.11 | 0 |
| Evanston | 11 | $38,709.21 | 4 |
| Riverside | 10 | $21,211.98 | 3 |
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