Cuyahoga County’s fiscal team and the county treasurer presented several resident‑facing initiatives and described technology upgrades intended to improve service access and tax administration.

Fiscal Officer Mike Chambers said the office oversees auditing, contracts, recording and auto title operations and described several large contracts that support those functions. He said the department is moving away from microfilm to PDF‑based records access and has acquired scanning equipment to make historical documents digitally available. Chambers also said the county received TAC approval for a property‑fraud alert system designed to notify homeowners earlier in a transfer process rather than after a deed has already recorded; Chambers said the goal is a rollout by the end of the first quarter of the coming year.

Treasurer Brad Grama described a delinquent tax taxpayer assistance pilot that to date has helped about 123 taxpayers and applied roughly $800,000 to reduce delinquency; he said 316 more applications are in process and the program’s budget ceiling is $2 million per year. Grama also described outreach events in partnership with the city of Cleveland and a Financial Empowerment Center planned for the county’s First Floor. He said the center’s first‑year budget estimate is about $841,000 with a reduced second‑year budget; the center will be delivered as a hub plus a spokes model with community referral partners and will seek outside funding to supplement county support.

Both fiscal and treasurer staff noted technology and process improvements to reduce call‑queue delays (caller position in queue and callback options) and a chatbot pilot that answers routine taxpayer questions. Chambers said microfilm conversion and the property‑fraud alert are intended to make records more accessible and to reduce successful deed‑fraud attempts.