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Get to Know Your Government

Franklin County Treasurer

Join the Franklin County Treasurer, Cheryl Brooks Sullivan, as she explains how her agency manages over $1 billion in annual revenue as well as their role as real-estate tax collectors.

Get to Know Your Government series: Join us for an engaging series featuring guest speakers from local, state, and federal government agencies. Explore the inner workings of governance, understand public services, and connect with the people shaping your community. Each session will include a Q&A. It's your chance to get informed and get involved!

Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan was elected by the citizens of Franklin County in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. She is the first African American to serve as Franklin County Treasurer and the first African American woman to serve in any Franklin County office.

Ms. Brooks Sullivan was born in Columbus, Ohio, and spent her early childhood in England as her father served in the United States Air Force and was an advisor to the Tuskegee Airmen. She and her family returned stateside when she was 6 years old; she attended high school at Eastmoor and Marion Franklin in Columbus City Schools and college at The Ohio State University and Franklin University.

Like her late father, Treasurer Brooks Sullivan is a military veteran. She served with the United States Army Security Agency, Central Intelligence Division, where she held a top-secret security clearance as a 05D.20 Cryptographic Special Identification Technique Operator. She completed her military assignment in 1977 with an honorable discharge.

When she returned home after her military service, Ms. Brooks Sullivan joined ranks with Laborers’ International Union Local 423 and specialized in asbestos abatement. Since 1980, she also has been involved in the management, administration, appraisal, and sale of real estate.

As Franklin County Treasurer, Ms. Brooks Sullivan has prioritized new initiatives and partnerships. Her goal has been to expand and modernize the technological tools available to taxpayers, to streamline the processes of the Franklin County Treasurer’s Office, and to identify and support populations at risk of losing their homes.

One of the first initiatives she tackled was expanding email billing options for Franklin County’s twice-yearly property tax collections, which has saved taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in printing and mailing expenses. 

Beyond her statutory responsibility of collecting real-estate taxes, Treasurer Brooks Sullivan is committed to keeping people in the homes they’ve worked hard to purchase. That commitment lead Treasurer Brooks Sullivan to design a program to help struggling homeowners avoid tax foreclosure if they’ve fallen behind on their property taxes.

Treasurer Brooks Sullivan serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation, Chair of the Franklin County Budget Commission, Chair of the Franklin County Investment Advisory Committee, Chair of the Franklin County Board of Revisions and member of the Automatic Data Processing Board and Microfilming Board.

As an avid community volunteer, Ms. Brooks Sullivan also serves as a Trustee of the Greater Columbus Arts Council, Vice Chair of the Community of Caring Development Foundation and as a Board member for Ohio Legal Help. She is also a member of the Columbus, Ohio Chapter of the NAACP.

She is the proud mother of two daughters and a grandmother of four.

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