Issues remain in Sussex reassessment process

The pending reassessments of Sussex County’s nearly 200,000 properties are almost complete. Several issues remain before appeals open in February and county taxes are levied by July 1.

1. Keeping taxpayers informed: Under the assessment contractor’s agreement with the county, the contractor is to report on the informal reviews held with property owners. That report should be published
2. Letting taxpayers know how their properties were assessed: The contractor is to deliver detailed bases for its assessments to the county in February. That data is owned by the county, per the contract, and by law should be published by Feb. 15, so property owners understand their reassessments
3. A contractor’s findings are not presumptively correct: During the reassessment appeals, under the board of assessment rules of procedure, it may be argued the contractor’s assessments enjoy a presumption of correctness. That is wrong. Only the county has the legal authority to conduct assessments, and the law says only the county may adopt assessments done by other governments (such as a city) – not a contractor
4. A contractor should not represent the county: During the assessment appeals and subsequent court proceedings, the contractor may be put forward as a representative of the county. That would be an unlawful delegation. Only the county attorney may represent the county in legal proceedings, only the Department of Assessment may present evidence in board appeals, and only the board of assessment or the Department of Finance may present evidence to a court.

Taxpayers should know how their taxes will be affected. Beyond the procedural issues above, the county should clarify how the reassessments will affect individual taxpayers. While Sussex County by law will see no increase in its overall revenues due to the reassessment, in Kent County, reportedly, some individual taxpayers have seen their taxes rise by over 100% due to the statewide reassessments. The Delaware Chancery Court has said, however, that despite these reassessments, “taxpayers need not fear that their tax bills would double or triple. The Delaware Code caps the maximum increase in tax burden from any assessment at 10%.” That’s according to Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and NAACP Delaware State Conference v. Carney, No. 2018-0029-VCL (Oct. 5, 2018).