DOVER, Del. -- A bill requiring Delaware's three counties to complete countywide property tax reassessments once every five years is headed to Governor John Carney's desk.
Introduced by Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton and Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman in March, House Bill 62 seeks to make Delaware’s education funding more dynamic and equitable by ensuring that the underlying property tax system that supports public schools is both fair and accurate.
Currently, Sussex County is working on completing it's first countywide property tax reassessment since 1974. It is expected to be completed by 2025.
"Your data is just kind of irrelevant," says Wilson Anton. "So that's what we're dealing with right now. That's why it's taking each of the counties so long because they've had to hire a bunch of folks and have had to literally go out there and measure properties in real time."
Rep. Wilson-Anton says the bill gained bipartisan support in both chambers. Republican lawmaker Rep. Bryan Shumer agrees that more frequent assessments are necessary to provide adequate funding for schools in Sussex County, but says every five years is too often to see change in value.
"Seven to 10 years is really a good check of assessments, says Shumer. "The City of Milford, when I was a Mayor of Milford, put in assessments as well, and that was every 10 years and we were very successful at that process."
In response, Wilson-Anton says the five year increments - recommended by experts - ultimately benefit property owners.
"Having this every five years and not 10 or 20, the changes to your bill will be just easier to deal with," says Wilson-Anton.
If signed by Gov. Carney, the five year window will go into effect once each county has completed their current reassessment projects.
