Kent County agrees to reassess property taxes, settle lawsuit
Xerxes WilsonIt's official, Kent County will rework the property valuations it uses to calculate school and county property tax bills over the coming three years.
Court records indicate that Kent County officials on Wednesday agreed to conduct the county's first property tax reassessment since 1984, settling a lawsuit that has already seen New Castle County agree to do the same.
The purpose of conducting the reassessment is to remedy a Delaware Chancery Court ruling in 2020 that found property taxing systems in each of the state's three counties to be unconstitutional and not in keeping with Delaware law.
Sussex County is subject to the same ruling, but has not agreed to conduct a reassessment as of yet and could continue to fight the issue in court.
Kent County's settlement states that the county will reassess property values used for taxing purposes through a process that will be complete in time for tax bills in July 2024.
The settlement simply lays out a timeframe and gives the plaintiffs who originally sued over the tax issue some oversight to ensure good faith efforts are underway to get it done.
"This is an important step towards more equitable and reliable funding for all schools, regardless of ZIP code,” said Karen Lantz, legal and policy director at the ACLU of Delaware, which represented the education-advocate plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
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Kent County action toward conducting a reassessment will likely now move to the county's Levy Court, which will have to approve a contractor to conduct the process, fund the multimillion-dollar task and set provisions as to how it gets done.
An attempt to reach Michael J. Petit de Mange, Kent County's administrator, was not immediately successful on Thursday. When Kent County was negotiating the settlement, he estimated the process could cost $5 million to $6 million.
At the time, Kent County was gathering information from potential contractors that do reassessment work, so he described that estimate as "rough" and subject to change. He added that he will recommend county Levy Court members make the reassessment a regular occurrence.
Earlier this week, New Castle County Council began the process for funding a reassessment in that county as well as spelling out priorities for the process.
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The County Council began the process of allocating $26 million from tax reserves to conduct the reassessment. The transfer will be voted on by the council in two weeks.
The County Council also unanimously passed a resolution stating the coming reassessment should lay the framework for reassessments every five years and that the county government should not reap a revenue increase from the process. County Executive Matt Meyer said he shares those priorities, which will be formalized by the County Council as it selects a contractor to conduct the reassessment.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareon
THE REASSESSMENT DILEMMA