The Clark County Auditor app cost the department $25,000, he said.
“It has been an exciting time in the Auditor’s Office bringing the county into the 21st century,” Federer said.
The app can be downloaded free from the Google and Apple app stores by searching “Clark County Auditor.”
Federer said those who download the app will be able to use the mobile site just as they would on a desktop or laptop computer. The app will also provide notifications for dog tag license registration and renewal dates, as well as deadlines to file for Homestead exemptions, for example, via push notifications.
He said he anticipates that app will be used by realtors, developers and people looking for addresses, statistical data and county information.
“Accessing data in today’s environment through technology is very important to the marketplace, and I want to continue to deliver to the taxpayers in the most cost-effective way, saving them time and money,” Federer said.
The current website is viewed hundreds if not thousands of times per day, Federer said.
The Clark County Auditor’s mobile app became operational after the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office launched a real estate mobile app called MCRealEstate in November 2013. The app cost the Montgomery County $15,000.
The new real estate app allows users to perform basic property searches using a mobile device.
“MCRealEstate provides users with more accessibility to county property data than ever before,” Montgomery County Auditor Karl L. Keith said in a press release.
When the app was launched, the Montgomery County Auditor’s website got more than 153,000 views per day and had more than 61 million hits per year, making it the most-used webpage in the county, Keith said.
The high demand for the website led Keith’s office to develop the MCRealEstate app, he said.
The app allows users to perform property searches for sales data, digital photos, current county values and real estate characteristics such as square footage and year built, he said.
“Our new app allows users to research property information conveniently from their mobile devices. We are excited to take this step as it represents our ongoing commitment to make government more accessible through the use of new innovation and technology,” Keith said in the news release.
Matt Cox, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office, said it’s unknown how many have downloaded the app.
“We did it so it would improve the accessibility of the county property data,” Cox said.
The Franklin County Auditor’s Office mobile application was the first-ever auditor’s office app in Ohio history, according to the website.
The GPS-enabled app allows users to view property information such as property value, building data and tax status for any of the parcels in Franklin County. In addition, the app offers information on the Homestead Exemption and Dog Licensing, according to the website.
Frances S. Lesser, executive director of the County Auditors’ Association of Ohio, said she doesn’t have data on the number of auditor’s offices with mobile apps.
“They are tech savvy and they’re aggressive to push out information, so it doesn’t surprise me that more and more are moving to mobile apps,” Lesser said. “… I think anytime they can get information out to the public on their activities and more importantly what they do that impacts their constituents and taxpayers, the better it is. Some of them have very sophisticated websites, and I think the next step was obviously mobile apps.”
Federer said the Clark County Auditor app is the latest in technology upgrades for his office and the county.
The auditor’s office has partnered with the city in bringing Geographic Information System functions to many departments to increase efficiency, he said. GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and present all types of spatial or geographical data.
Additionally, the auditor’s office kicked off an 18-month project of installing a new financial package and payroll system that benefits all county government, Federer said.
“All of this technology has been implemented as cost-saving measures to the Clark County taxpayer in the form of saving time and money,” he said.
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