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Hamilton County

Hamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)

In short

Hamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District) issues 13 permits we publish for Hamilton County, last verified 2026-09-30. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License — commercial, 25,000 sq ft and overHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table, rev. 1/1/26, food lines effective 12/1/2025: risk level 1 $342.00, level 2 $356.00, level 3 $1,096.00, level 4 $1,158.00. Each total is the health district fee ($314.00, $328.00, $1,068.00, $1,130.00) plus the $28.00 state fee. Plan review is $150.00, $200.00, $400.00 and $500.00 by risk level. A renewal filed after 1 March adds 25 per cent of the district fee — $78.50, $82.00, $267.00 and $282.50 — taking the totals to $420.50, $438.00, $1,363.00 and $1,440.50.one licensing period, 1 March to the last day of February, under ORC 3717.01(P); a license issued to a new operation after 1 December runs to the end of the next succeeding licensing period2026-09-30
Temporary Food Service Operation / Temporary Food Establishment Licenseonly if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)$68 per event, as printed on the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table (rev. 1/1/26, effective 12/1/2025) and on the county's own 2026 Temporary Food License Application packet; the schedule's state fee column is blank on this row, so the $68.00 is a county-only amountfive consecutive days or fewer at the same location at the same event; ORC 3717.43(D) makes a temporary license non-renewable, and ORC 3717.43(E)(1) allows a licensor to issue not more than ten temporary licenses per licensing period to the same person or government entity, and only one for each particular event2026-09-30
Public Swimming Pool, Public Spa and Special Use Pool Licenseonly if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table, rev. 1/1/26, whose pool, spa and special use pool lines carry an effective date of 1/1/2024: individual public swimming pool $442.00 ($362.00 health district fee plus an $80.00 state fee), individual public spa $473.00 ($393.00 plus $80.00), individual special use pool $429.00 ($349.00 plus $80.00). Each additional pool, spa or special use pool at the same address carries the same district fee plus a $55.00 state amount. A license renewed after 30 April adds 25 per cent of the district fee — $90.50, $98.25 and $87.25 — for totals of $532.50, $571.25 and $516.25.annual, with the late-fee window opening on 1 May, so the renewal is due by 30 April2026-09-30
Body Art Facility License (tattooing and body piercing)only if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Quoted from Hamilton County Public Health's own body art page: 'The initial license fee is $300. That can be submitted with the application or given to the inspector at your licensing inspection. The annual license fee is $300 and is due at the start of each year with a license renewal application.' Both amounts are county-only — they are set on the programme page rather than on the Environmental Health fee table, which does not carry a body art row.calendar year, with renewal due at the start of each year; HCPH states that 'Initial licenses granted on or after October 1st are effective until December 31st of the following year'2026-09-30
Medical Gas System Permit and Inspectiononly if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Plumbing Division Fee Schedule, header 'Effective 7/1/25': permit processing $250.00; inspection of each system (carbon dioxide, oxygen, medical air and the like) $100.00, with the schedule's footnote allowing up to two inspections per system and charging additional ones as a partial inspection; inspection of each outlet $10.00; partial inspection $75.00; special limited permit covering one inspection $100.00; reinspection, field trip or site visit $75.00; after-hours inspection $75.00 per hour with a two-hour minimum; permit transfer $200.00; permit extension $50.00; plan review $250.00.per permit, with a $50.00 extension; the medical gas permit is issued to a contractor registered and bonded with the HCPH Plumbing Division2026-09-30
Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License — commercial, under 25,000 sq ftHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table, rev. 1/1/26, whose food lines carry an effective date of 12/1/2025: risk level 1 $257.00, level 2 $281.00, level 3 $477.00, level 4 $588.00. Each total is the health district fee ($229.00, $253.00, $449.00, $560.00) plus the $28.00 state fee the licensor collects and transmits to the Treasurer of State. Plan review for a new build or remodel is charged separately on the same table at $100.00, $150.00, $300.00 and $400.00 by risk level. A renewal filed after 1 March adds a penalty of 25 per cent of the district fee — $57.25, $63.25, $112.25 and $140.00 — taking the totals to $314.25, $344.25, $589.25 and $728.00.one licensing period, which ORC 3717.01(P) defines as 'the first day of March to the last day of February of the next succeeding year'; a license issued to a new operation after 1 December does not expire until the end of the next succeeding licensing period2026-09-30
Mobile Food Service Operation / Mobile Retail Food Establishment LicenseHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table, rev. 1/1/26, effective 12/1/2025: mobile high risk $128.00 ($100.00 health district fee plus the $28.00 state fee) and mobile low risk $78.00 ($50.00 plus $28.00). A late renewal adds 25 per cent of the district fee — $25.00 high risk, $12.50 low risk — for totals of $153.00 and $90.50.one licensing period; ORC 3717.43(D) has a mobile or seasonal operator submit the renewal application before commencing operation in a new licensing period rather than by the 1 March date that applies to fixed premises2026-09-30
Vending Machine Location Licenseonly if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)$14.30 per licensing period, per vending machine location — a combined amount of $8.30 health district fee plus the $6.00 state fee, as printed on the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table (rev. 1/1/26, effective 12/1/2025); a late renewal adds $2.08, taking it to $16.38one licensing period, 1 March to the last day of February, under ORC 3717.01(P), with renewal due by 1 March2026-09-30
Plumbing and Medical Gas Contractor Registration and $10,000 BondHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Plumbing Division Fee Schedule, header 'Effective 7/1/25': one-year contractor registration $100.00, three-year contractor registration $300.00. A $10,000 surety bond running to the Board of Health of the Hamilton County General Health District is filed alongside the registration. Both figures are reprinted on the county's current registration packet, revised 07/28/2026, which prices 'Single-Year Registration ($100) or 3-Year Registration ($300)'.Plumbing Regulation 3-2025 Section 02 provides that registration fees 'may be submitted for a one (1) or three (3)-year period and shall expire on December 31 of the year for which the registration was completed for one (1)-year registrations and on December 31 of the third year'; the bond form runs 'through December 31 of the year executed or until canceled which ever occurs last'2026-09-30
Plumbing Permit (commercial and residential)Hamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)Per the Hamilton County Public Health Plumbing Division Fee Schedule, header 'Effective 7/1/25': minimum permit fee $61.00; first, new and replacement fixtures $61.00 each; additional fixtures $22.00 each; backflow devices $30.00; water heater replacement $60.00; water and sewer line up to 250 feet $61.00 plus $1.00 for each additional 10 feet; reinspection, field trip or site visit $61.00; after-hours inspection $60.00 per hour with a two-hour minimum; permit transfer $100.00; permit extension $61.00. Plan review is banded by fixture count: $50.00 for 1 to 10 fixtures, $65.00 for 11 to 25, $90.00 for 26 to 50 and $150.00 at 51; expedited plan review is $500.00. Plan scanning is $3.00 per sheet up to 8.5 by 11 inches and $10.00 per larger sheet, and the schedule states that plans may be submitted digitally at no charge.per permit, with a $61.00 extension available; the permit is issued to the registered and bonded contractor performing the work2026-09-30
Small Flow On-Site Sewage Treatment System (SFOSTS) Permit to Installonly if it applies to youHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)$800 per installation, including a $74 state fee, per the Hamilton County Public Health Division of Water Quality STS Program fee schedule headed 'Effective 12/1/2023 Regulation 5-2023'per installation; the system then carries an annual or 58-month operation permit at $80.00, with operation inspections at $150.00 for the initial and first re-inspection and $200.00 for the second and each subsequent one2026-09-30
Sewage Treatment System Installer, Service Provider and Septage Hauler RegistrationHamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)$150 a year, for each registration category — installer, STS service provider or septage hauler — per the Hamilton County Public Health Division of Water Quality STS Program fee schedule headed 'Effective 12/1/2023 Regulation 5-2023'; a septage hauler also pays $100.00 for each truck inspectionannual registration with the Division of Water Quality2026-09-30
Smoke Free Workplace Compliance (HCPH enforcement)Hamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District)No feea continuing obligation on a public place or place of employment, not a license with a term; there is nothing to renew2026-09-30

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License — commercial, 25,000 sq ft and over

A supermarket, warehouse club, large grocery or big restaurant of 25,000 square feet or more is priced on the upper band of the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health fee table, and the gap between the bands widens sharply at the top: a risk level 3 operation pays $1,096.00 above the threshold against $477.00 below it, and a risk level 4 operation $1,158.00 against $588.00. Each figure is the sum of the health district fee and the $28.00 state amount that OAC 3701-21-02(B)(1) sets and the licensor transmits to the Treasurer of State, exactly as the table's own columns present it. Floor area alone does not decide the figure — the risk level does most of the work, and OAC 3701-21-02.3 assigns it on activity, so a large store selling mostly prepackaged goods sits low in the band while one with a butchery, a bakery and hot food service sits at level 3 or 4. The licensing period, the 1 March renewal date and the 25 per cent late penalty under ORC 3717.43(D) are identical to the smaller band, and the plan review charged on a new build or remodel is one step higher in each row. The same scope check applies before any of these figures is used: HCPH's own served-communities list defines the district it licenses, and the cities of Cincinnati, Norwood and Springdale license and price food operations inside their own limits.

Temporary Food Service Operation / Temporary Food Establishment License

A stall, cart or truck selling food at a Hamilton County festival, market or fair takes a temporary license from Hamilton County Public Health for that event, at $68.00 — a figure that appears twice, on the Environmental Health fee table and on page 1 of the county's own 2026 Temporary Food License Application packet. HCPH's food service licensing page defines the scope in its own words: 'Temporary food service operation licenses are required for any person/group who wishes to prepare and sell food for 5 consecutive days or fewer in the same location', and it sets a hard lead time — apply at least ten days before the event. Two limits shape how often this route can be used. ORC 3717.43(E)(1) permits a licensor to issue 'not more than ten temporary food service operation licenses per licensing period to the same person or government entity to operate at different events', and only one license for each particular event, and ORC 3717.43(D) makes a temporary license non-renewable, so an operator trading regularly is looking at a mobile or fixed license instead. One exemption is worth knowing because it comes up constantly at community events: HCPH states that 'Churches are not required to apply for a temporary license if the food will be sold on church property and all proceeds will go back to the church.' The county's application packet still prints the former William Howard Taft Road address; HCPH's current office is 1701 Patricia McCollum Way, Dept. 93, 5th floor, Cincinnati OH 45237.

Public Swimming Pool, Public Spa and Special Use Pool License

A fitness studio, hotel or club without a pool, spa or splash feature has no pool license to take out; a studio that operates one needs a license for each body of water, and the county prices spas slightly above pools. The amounts come from Hamilton County Public Health's Environmental Health fee table, where the pool, spa and special use pool rows are dated 1/1/2024 — an older effective date than the food rows on the same sheet, which are dated 12/1/2025, so the two blocks should not be read as one schedule. Each total is a health district fee plus a state amount: $80.00 for the first unit and $55.00 for each additional pool, spa or special use pool at the same address, where the district fee repeats in full. Renewing late costs a quarter of the district fee, and the county's late window opens on 1 May, which makes 30 April the operative deadline rather than the 1 March date that governs food licenses. The governing rules are the Ohio Administrative Code's public swimming pools and spas chapter, OAC Chapter 3701-31, as identified on HCPH's own Codes and Regulations page; the statute column on the fee table prints a chapter number that does not exist in the Administrative Code, so OAC 3701-31 is the citation to work from. Applications are filed through the permitting portal linked from the county's own business licenses page, and a new pool also passes through an Ohio Department of Health plan review before it can be licensed. Inside Cincinnati, Norwood or Springdale the city health department licenses the pool instead.

Body Art Facility License (tattooing and body piercing)

This record is scope-gated twice, and both gates matter. First, it covers body art work only: a salon doing hair, nails or skin care is not a body art facility, while a studio offering tattooing, body piercing or permanent cosmetics is, and the two are often co-located. Second, it is a Hamilton County Public Health license rather than a countywide one — HCPH's own page states that 'HCPH licenses body art facilities that are within Hamilton County but are NOT within the cities of Cincinnati, Norwood, or Springdale', and repeats that 'All such establishments in Hamilton County, outside the city limits of Cincinnati, Norwood and Springdale are required to be licensed by Hamilton County Public Health.' The fees are published on that page and nowhere else, which is why it is cited for them: $300 initially and $300 a year thereafter, with the initial payment made either with the application or handed to the inspector at the licensing inspection. A late-year opening is treated generously — an initial license granted on or after 1 October runs through 31 December of the following year. The application is a three-document package: the Body Art Application, a Plan Review Request Form and an Infectious Prevention and Control Plan, supported by proof of apprenticeship or training, current first aid and bloodborne pathogen certifications, a facility floor plan, consent forms, procedure records, aftercare information and sterilizer logs. One of the supporting documents is a county zoning matter rather than a health one: HCPH requires 'Written proof from your local zoning authority that you're allowed to have a body art business at that location', which for an address in the county commissioner zoning jurisdiction means a zoning certificate from Development Services first. HCPH states that the initial licensing process takes up to 30 days, and employees must be trained in first aid, CPR and bloodborne pathogen exposure control.

Medical Gas System Permit and Inspection

A veterinary practice is the target industry this record most often reaches, because piped oxygen, medical air, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide in a surgery or dental suite is a medical gas system in the county's sense, and Hamilton County Public Health permits and inspects it separately from ordinary plumbing. The cost is built up rather than flat: $250.00 to process the permit, $250.00 for plan review, $100.00 to inspect each system with up to two inspections included per system, and $10.00 for each outlet, so a clinic with oxygen and medical air in three rooms is priced on the count of systems and outlets rather than on the size of the building. Reinspections, field trips and site visits are $75.00 each, after-hours inspection is $75.00 an hour with a two-hour minimum, transferring a permit is $200.00 and extending one is $50.00. The same registration and bonding rules apply as for plumbing work, because Plumbing Regulation 3-2025 Section 02 covers anyone who installs, repairs or modifies 'a plumbing or medical gas system in HCPH's jurisdiction'. One state-level point belongs beside this county record, because it is often missed and it is not a county matter: ORC 4741.28 requires a veterinary business facility license, at a $300 application fee and a $300 renewal fee, where the facility is owned or controlled by an entity whose 'majority controlling interest is vested in individuals who are not licensed veterinarians', and that license 'expires biennially on June 1 in odd-numbered years' with renewal filed between 1 and 30 April of odd-numbered years. A practice majority-owned by its own licensed veterinarians is outside that state license; a corporately owned clinic is inside it, and it holds that license in addition to whatever county permits its building work requires.

Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License — commercial, under 25,000 sq ft

Hamilton County Public Health is the licensor for food service operations and retail food establishments in the Hamilton County General Health District, and the figures above come from its Environmental Health Division License Fees table, rev. 1/1/26, whose food rows are dated 12/1/2025. Two things decide which figure applies: floor area above or below 25,000 square feet, and the risk level. The risk levels are set by state rule rather than locally — OAC 3701-21-02.3 puts self-service hot beverages, fountain drinks and prepackaged non-temperature-controlled items at level I, holding or reheating individually packaged commercially processed food at level II, cooking or assembling temperature-controlled food for immediate service at level III, and catering or bulk reheating at level IV — so a coffee shop pouring coffee and selling prepackaged items sits at the bottom of the table and a full-service kitchen or a caterer at the top. The split inside each total is statutory: ORC 3717.45(A) requires the local fee to be based on the licensor's cost of regulation and to be set only after a public hearing, and OAC 3701-21-02(B)(1) fixes the state component at 'Twenty-eight dollars for each license that the licensor issues' in this category, which the licensor collects and sends to the Treasurer of State. Renewal is tied to the calendar, not to the opening date: ORC 3717.43(D) requires the renewal application not later than the first day of March and provides that 'The amount of the penalty shall be twenty-five per cent of the renewal fee', which is the 25 per cent late column on the county table. Where one operator runs both food service and retail food activity in a single facility, ORC 3717.44(B) licenses the primary business and endorses the secondary one. Some operations are outside the license altogether under ORC 3717.42(B): one serving thirteen or fewer individuals daily, and a type A or type B family child care home preparing or serving food for the children in its care — but a child care centre that prepares or serves food is not in that list and needs this license. Before using these amounts, check the address against the licensor: HCPH's served-communities list names the 45 jurisdictions it covers, including Sharonville, and the Ohio Department of Health's directory of local health districts lists the Cincinnati, Norwood and Springdale city health departments separately, so an address in one of those three cities is licensed and priced by that city. Cincinnati's own 2026 schedule is materially higher than the county's at every risk level.

Mobile Food Service Operation / Mobile Retail Food Establishment License

A truck, cart or trailer licensed here can work anywhere in Ohio, and where it licenses depends on its headquarters rather than on where it trades. ORC 3717.43(A) requires the application for a mobile food service operation license to be submitted 'to the licensor for the health district in which the applicant's business headquarters are located, or, if the headquarters are located outside this state, to the licensor for the district where the applicant will first operate in this state', and ORC 3717.43(B) provides that a mobile license issued by one licensor 'shall be recognized by all other licensors in this state'. So a truck headquartered in an unincorporated township or in one of the 45 jurisdictions HCPH serves licenses with Hamilton County Public Health at $128.00 or $78.00 depending on the risk level of its menu; a truck headquartered in the city of Cincinnati licenses with the Cincinnati Health Department instead, at that city's own higher rate, and does not license again with the county. The low-risk rate is not a local discount: OAC 3701-21-02.1(A)(4) requires that a low risk mobile fee 'will be fifty per cent of the mobile food service operation fee', and the county's $50.00 district fee is exactly half its $100.00 high-risk district fee. Staying put has a consequence — a mobile operation that remains at one location for more than forty consecutive days stops being mobile under ORC 3717.01 and needs a fixed-premises license, which is a materially larger fee. HCPH reviews mobile plans before a unit opens and publishes a mobile plan review application and checklist alongside the license forms; the plan review columns on the fee table are for fixed operations, because ORC 3717.45(B)(1) authorises a plan review fee only for operations other than mobile and temporary ones. An operator working festivals and one-off events instead of a regular route should compare this against the $68.00 temporary license, which is capped at ten per licensing period.

Vending Machine Location License

The smallest food license Hamilton County Public Health issues, and it catches a business that does not think of itself as a food business at all: a gym with a drinks and snack machine, a repair shop with a waiting-room vending machine, or a store hosting machines it does not own. The $14.30 total is $8.30 in health district fee plus the $6.00 state amount that OAC 3701-21-02(B)(3) sets for the vending machine category and the licensor remits to the Treasurer of State. Whether a license is needed at all turns on what the machine dispenses: ORC 3717.42(B)(9) exempts a vending machine location where the machines dispense only non-potentially-hazardous prepackaged food, nuts, panned or wrapped bulk gum or candies, so a crisps-and-chocolate machine is outside the license while a machine holding sandwiches, dairy or other temperature-controlled items is inside it. The licensing period and the 1 March renewal date are the same as for every other food license in the county, and the late column on the fee table adds $2.08, which is 25 per cent of the district portion. As with the rest of the Environmental Health schedule, this prices a location in the Hamilton County General Health District rather than in Cincinnati, Norwood or Springdale.

Plumbing and Medical Gas Contractor Registration and $10,000 Bond

Before touching a plumbing or medical gas system in Hamilton County Public Health's jurisdiction, a contractor registers with the Plumbing Division and files a surety bond. Plumbing Regulation 3-2025, Section 02 puts it plainly: 'Registration and bonding is required to install, repair or modify a plumbing or medical gas system in HCPH's jurisdiction', and 'Each person, firm or corporation installing plumbing or medical gas systems within HCPH's jurisdiction shall file a surety bond in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) and said surety bond must be approved by the Hamilton County Board of Health.' The fee schedule effective 7/1/25 sets $100.00 for a single year and $300.00 for three, and the amounts are confirmed current by the registration packet the county links today, revised 07/28/2026 — thirteen months after the schedule's effective date — which prints the same $100 and $300 and the same $10,000 penal sum on its bond form. This is a registration and bond rather than a license, and HCPH is explicit about the difference on its own page: 'Counties are not permitted to license plumbers, but Hamilton County Public Health does require a $10,000 performance bond for all contractors installing plumbing.' Journeyman and master plumber licensing in this area is a municipal function, and HCPH points applicants to cities such as Cincinnati, Middletown or Norwood for it. The state license sits behind the county registration: 'All contractors wishing to obtain a residential or commercial plumbing permit in Hamilton County, Ohio must show proof of their Ohio Plumbing Contractors License issued by the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (except those obtaining a Homeowners Permit and Specialty Contractors)', and the packet requires the license document itself because 'Website print-outs are not acceptable.' Specialty contractors get a narrower registration — they are 'restricted to installing only outside water service main and outside sanitary sewer piping' — and every registrant agrees to abide by OAC Chapter 4101:2-51 and the rules of Hamilton County Public Health.

Plumbing Permit (commercial and residential)

Almost every fit-out in the Hamilton County General Health District meets this permit, because it is charged per fixture rather than as a flat sum: a restaurant kitchen with a three-compartment sink, hand sinks, a mop sink and floor drains, a salon with shampoo bowls and pedicure stations, a veterinary clinic with prep and kennel-area plumbing, a childcare centre with child-height fixtures. The pricing shape is worth planning around — the first, new or replacement fixture is $61.00 and each additional fixture $22.00, so the count drives the bill, and the $61.00 minimum permit fee is the floor for small work. Separate lines cover the things a fit-out often forgets: $30.00 per backflow device, $60.00 for a water heater replacement, and $61.00 for a water or sewer line up to 250 feet plus $1.00 for each additional 10 feet. Plan review is banded by fixture count from $50.00 to $150.00, with a $500.00 expedited option, and the schedule notes that digital submission avoids the per-sheet scanning charge. Permits are issued to contractors who are registered and bonded with the Plumbing Division, which HCPH requires before work starts, and repair or replacement work counts: the programme covers installation, construction, alteration and repair including replacement fixtures. A build-out can also draw in two other bodies at once, because Plumbing Regulation 3-2025 assigns pressure forced mains for sanitary sewage and certain sewer and water work to the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, and water service lines for fire protection to the building department — so the same project can carry an HCPH plumbing permit, an MSD approval and a county building permit. Inside Cincinnati, Norwood or Springdale the city health department or city plumbing inspection office handles this instead.

Small Flow On-Site Sewage Treatment System (SFOSTS) Permit to Install

This record only reaches a business whose premises is on an on-site system rather than on Metropolitan Sewer District sewer, which in Hamilton County means the outer townships and the pockets MSD does not serve — the county's own development-process page names Glendale, Indian Hill, Terrace Park, Harrison, Harrison Township and Whitewater Township among the exceptions to MSD service. Where that is the case, a commercial building is a small flow on-site sewage treatment system in the county's terms, and the permit to install it is $800.00 under the Division of Water Quality's STS Program fee schedule, headed 'Effective 12/1/2023 Regulation 5-2023'; $74 of that total is a state fee the county collects. The lifetime cost is larger than the install permit alone: altering a SFOSTS costs $300.00, $400.00 or $500.00 by job cost band, abandoning any system is $150.00, the operation permit is $80.00 for a year or 58 months, and operation inspections run $150.00 for the initial and first re-inspection and $200.00 thereafter. Household systems are priced separately and lower on the same sheet ($700.00 to install an HSTS or a type 2 to 4 GWRS), so a commercial applicant should not read the household row. The schedule also carries a penalty clause worth planning around, stated in its closing paragraph: 25 per cent of the local fee is charged under ORC 3709.09 'when work is performed prior to obtaining application/permit or when an inspection fee or operation permit fee is not submitted within 60 days of being due'. A restaurant, salon, childcare centre or veterinary clinic on septic should treat this permit as sitting on the critical path with the building permit, because the system sizing depends on the fixture count and the projected flow.

Sewage Treatment System Installer, Service Provider and Septage Hauler Registration

A contractor who installs, alters or services on-site sewage treatment systems in the Hamilton County General Health District registers annually with Hamilton County Public Health's Division of Water Quality, at $150.00 for each of the three categories on the fee schedule: installer, STS service provider and septage hauler. A septage hauler pays an additional $100.00 for each truck inspection, which is charged per inspection rather than per year, so a multi-truck operation is priced on its fleet. All of these figures come from the STS Program fee schedule headed 'Effective 12/1/2023 Regulation 5-2023', which HCPH still links from its own Licenses and Permits index as the current schedule. This registration is separate from, and additional to, the plumbing contractor registration and $10,000 bond the same health district requires for plumbing and medical gas work, so a contractor doing both kinds of work holds both. The same schedule's penalty clause applies here too: 25 per cent of the local fee is added under ORC 3709.09 where work is performed before the application or permit is obtained, or where an inspection or operation permit fee is not submitted within 60 days of being due.

Smoke Free Workplace Compliance (HCPH enforcement)

Hamilton County Public Health's Codes and Regulations page lists the Smoke Free Workplace Program, OAC Chapter 3701-52, among the codes its Environmental Health Division operates under, and its Environmental Health page links the Ohio Department of Health's programme; this is an enforcement and complaint function, so there is no county license to apply for and the county charges no fee for it. It is recorded here because it is a real operating condition for every enclosed public place and place of employment in the county — a restaurant, cafe, shop, gym, salon, repair shop, veterinary practice or childcare centre — and because the practical duties that go with it are easy to miss: posting no-smoking signage, removing ashtrays and receptacles from the enclosed area, and dealing with complaints when they are referred. Enforcement runs on complaint rather than on inspection rounds, and the rules that define a public place, a place of employment and the exemptions are state rules in OAC Chapter 3701-52 rather than county ones, so the substance does not change from one Ohio county to the next. What does change locally is who takes the complaint, and in the Hamilton County General Health District that is HCPH's Environmental Health Division.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Hamilton County
Phone
513-946-7800

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

  1. 2026 Temporary Food License Application packet (form dated 4/23/2025) — prints the $68.00 temporary license fee on page 1Hamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  2. About Hamilton County Public Health — the list of the 45 political jurisdictions it serves, including Sharonville, and its statement that a community not listed may be served by one of the county's three other local health departmentsHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  3. Body Art — HCPH's own page: the $300 initial and $300 annual license fees, the October-onward initial license rule, the three-city scope statement, the zoning-approval requirement and the 30-day licensing processHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  4. Codes and Regulations — HCPH's own list of the codes its Environmental Health Division operates under, including the Uniform Food Safety Code (OAC 3717-1), Public Swimming Pools and Spas (OAC Chapter 3701-31), the Smoke Free Workplace Program (OAC Chapter 3701-52), Plumbing Regulation 3-2025 and sewage treatment systems (ORC Chapter 3718, OAC Chapter 3701-29)Hamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  5. Division of Water Quality Fee Schedule, STS Program, header 'Effective 12/1/2023 Regulation 5-2023' — the $800.00 SFOSTS permit to install including the $74 state fee, alteration and abandonment permits, the $80.00 operation permit, inspection fees, the $150.00 registrations and the ORC 3709.09 penalty clauseHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  6. Environmental Health — HCPH's own division page: the Person In Charge course required for all new operations and at least one trained person per shift for operations opened after 1 March 2010, and the Smoke Free Workplace Program linkHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  7. Environmental Health Division License Fees, rev. 1/1/26 — health district fee, state fee, total, 25 per cent late fee and plan review columns for food, mobile, temporary, vending, pool, spa, special use pool and training, each row carrying its own effective dateHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  8. Find Local Health Districts — the state directory listing Cincinnati Health Department, Hamilton County Public Health, Norwood City Health Department and Springdale City Health Department for Hamilton CountyOhio Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  9. Food Service Licensing — HCPH's own programme page: the five-consecutive-day temporary rule, the ten-days-before-the-event filing rule, the church exemption, the 40-consecutive-day mobile test and the food manager training duty for operations opened after 1 March 2010Hamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  10. Forms, Permits and Licenses — the county's own list of what it issues: Food Service (fixed, mobile, temporary), Pools and Spas, Tattoo and Piercing Facilities and Vendor's License under Licenses; Buildings + Inspections, Engineer's Office, Soil & Water, Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency, Stormwater + Infrastructure, Earth Movement Permit and Weights and Measures under PermitsHamilton County, Ohio · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  11. Licenses and Permits — HCPH's own index of the licenses and permits it issues, linking the Environmental Health, plumbing and water quality fee schedules that are currentHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  12. OAC 3701-21-02 — the state amounts a licensor collects and remits: twenty-eight dollars for food service and retail food licenses, fourteen dollars for the mobile-discount category and six dollars for vending machine locationsOhio Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  13. OAC 3701-21-02.3 — the four food risk levels and their examples, from self-service hot beverages at level I to catering and bulk reheating at level IVOhio Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  14. OAC Chapter 3701-52 — the Smoke Free Workplace Program rules applying to public places and places of employment, enforced on complaintOhio Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  15. ORC 3717.01 — definitions: licensing period (1 March to the last day of February), mobile food service operation and the forty-consecutive-day rule, and temporary food service operationOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  16. ORC 3717.42 — exemptions, including (B)(7) a food service operation serving thirteen or fewer individuals daily and (B)(8) a type A or type B family child care home preparing or serving food for the children receiving child careOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  17. ORC 3717.43 — a licensor may issue not more than ten temporary food service operation licenses per licensing period to the same person or government entityOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  18. ORC 3717.44 — where food service and retail food activities happen in one facility under one operator, the license follows the primary business with an endorsement for the secondary activityOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  19. ORC 3717.45 — food service operation license fees set on the licensor's cost of regulation after a public hearing, the state fee component, and the plan-review fee authorised for operations other than mobile and temporaryOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  20. ORC 4741.28 — the veterinary business facility license for a facility whose majority controlling interest is not held by licensed veterinarians: $300 application fee, expiry biennially on 1 June in odd-numbered years and a $300 renewal fee filed in April of odd-numbered yearsOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  21. Plumbing — HCPH's own division page, linking the plumbing fee schedule effective 7/1/25, the registration packet and the medical gas requirementsHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  22. Plumbing Contractor Registration — HCPH's own page: the $10,000 performance bond for all contractors installing plumbing, the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board license prerequisite, the refusal of website print-outs and the specialty contractor restrictionHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  23. Plumbing Contractor Registration Application packet, revised 07/28/2026 — prints single-year registration $100 and three-year registration $300 and the $10,000 penal sum on the bond formHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  24. Plumbing Division Fee Schedule, header 'Effective 7/1/25' — one-year and three-year registration, the $61.00 minimum permit fee, per-fixture, backflow, water heater and line fees, plan review bands and the medical gas feesHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  25. Plumbing Regulation 3-2025, Rules and Regulations for Maintenance, Installation and Inspection of Plumbing and Medical Gas Systems within the Hamilton County General Health District, effective 1 July 2025 under ORC 3709.21 — Section 02 registration, expiry and the $10,000 surety bondHamilton County Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30

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