New issues have arisen in the Sussex County property tax reassessment process. The reassessment contractor unilaterally revised its own assessments (again without explanation), the county signaled it may understand its emerging legal problems, but the county still has not told taxpayers how much they will pay when tax bills are issued in August.
The reassessment contractor was to deliver its data to the county in mid-February. But the data supporting reassessments does not appear on the county website. It therefore remains impossible for individual taxpayers to understand how the contractor assessed their properties.
Then last week, the contractor and the county sent out new reassessments. These new assessments were based on the informal appeals to the contractor by taxpayers. Thus, some taxpayers who appealed apparently caused the contractor to increase their neighbors’ assessments – still without any explanation for why the contractor’s assessments were changed, or how they were made in the first place.
There is no statutory authority for the county to use the contractor’s assessments. Title 9, Chapter 83 of Delaware Code is clear: assessments are to be done by the county. Delaware follows Dillon’s Rule, which says the county has only the authority granted by the Legislature. No Delaware law says that a county may delegate its assessment authority to a private contractor.
Because the county may not rely on the contractor’s assessments – though the board of assessment review rules still claim that assessments are presumptively correct – a footnote on the board’s website now signals that those rules may change when the board convenes in March. Assuming, as a matter of law, that a contractor’s unexplained assessments are correct is simply wrong, and the revised rules may acknowledge that.
But the county still has not explained what individual taxpayers’ bills will be. Taxpayers thus don’t know whether the county will follow the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court which said, referring to this reassessment process, that taxpayers need not fear that their tax bills would double or triple, because the Delaware code caps the maximum increase in tax burden from any assessment at 10%.
Next steps? Appeals to the Sussex County Board of Assessment review can be made through the board’s website by Monday, March 31. When appealing, to preserve their rights, taxpayers may want to note the many issues raised in the Cape Gazette regarding the reassessment process.
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Nick Roth is the news editor. He has been with the Cape Gazette since 2012, previously covering town beats in Milton and Lewes. In addition to serving on the editorial board and building pages, Nick is responsible for the weekly Delaware History in Photographs feature and enjoys writing stories about the Cape Region’s history. Prior to the Cape Gazette, Nick worked for the Delmarva Media Group, including the Delaware Wave, Delaware Coast Press and Salisbury Daily Times. He also contributed to The News Journal. Originally from Boyertown, Pa., Nick attended Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania, graduating in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He’s won several MDDC awards during his career for both writing and photography. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, going to the beach with his family and cheering for Philadelphia sports teams.
