Article
Delaware set to release updated property values from first reassessment since the 1980s
Nov. 19, 2024 · Authored by Mitch Wilson
Nov. 19, 2024 update: New assessment values are now being mailed out for all properties in New Castle County. Property owners will have an informal review window to discuss property details with Tyler Technologies. Meetings can be scheduled in person or via phone conference. Information is on the mailer and meetings should be scheduled within two weeks of mailing date. Formal assessment appeals will be due March 14, 2025. Baker Tilly is currently reviewing these values for our clients and is available to provide a review and recommendation as to further action for all Delaware commercial property owners.
June 1, 2024 update: The Delaware statewide reassessment is nearing completion in Kent County. Tyler Technologies completed the informal hearings in late winter and early spring, and the Board hearings were completed in early May 2024. Final notices have been mailed and those values will be live on July 1 for tax year 2024.
For New Castle County and Sussex County most of the physical inspections and groundwork is nearing completion. Tyler Technologies has recently mailed out income questionnaires for commercial properties within the counties. It is expected that preliminary values will be mailed in fall 2024 with a window of informal appeal shortly after receipt of notice. If taxpayers are not satisfied with the result at the informal level, there will be an appeal opportunity to the Board in early 2025. Final notices will be mailed to taxpayers May 2025 and values will be live July 1, 2025, for tax year 2025.
Tyler Technologies points out that this schedule is subject to change but given the timeline followed in Kent County this reassessment should remain on schedule.
June 30, 2023 update: House Bill 62 was passed on June 20, 2023 at the Delaware General Assembly to amend Title 9 of the Delaware code relating to the assessment of residential and commercial real estate. This act requires properties to be assessed at least once every five years moving forward. The first of the five-year periods beginning with completion of the upcoming reassessments, with the goal of maintaining present fair market value statewide. [1]
August 2022 update: All three major counties in Delaware, New Castle, Kent and Sussex, have rescheduled their reassessments with either 2023 or 2024 valuation dates. Kent and Sussex counties will be reassessed first with a valuation date from Tyler Technologies of July 1, 2023, and a finalized reassessment by tax year 2024. The now presumed target date for New Castle County reassessed values is July 1, 2024 and finalized reassessment in effect by tax year 2025. Statewide, Delaware commercial property owners will still be given a three-month window to initiate an informal reassessed value appeal with Tyler Technologies, likely due 10 days prior to final informal value notification. It is also highly likely that subsequent board appeal deadlines in each county’s reassessment year will be pushed depending when reassessment notices are issued.
There is word that the State is in the process of drafting legislation requiring automatic reassessments for each county every five years, but no official announcement from Delaware State or County officials has been made regarding the matter. At this time, there is no current law in Delaware requiring regular reassessments, but County officials are hoping the proposed legislation becomes law to avoid the inevitable massive valuation and resulting taxation increases commercial property owners will be seeing in the next 18 months.
July 7, 2022 – In the coming months, all three counties in the state of Delaware are set to finalize their first property value reassessment in decades. Third-party appraisal services firm, Tyler Technologies, has completed its data collection for the counties of New Castle (last reassessment in 1983), Kent (1987), and Sussex (1974), with the estimated release of values sometime late-fall 2022.
While Delaware publishes sales study ratios for school funding apportionment purposes, the State Courts have upheld County practices of not applying these ratios to arrive at an implied market value for the current tax year over the last few decades. Instead, the practice remains that property owners and investors had to trend value indications from current year back to the original decades-old reassessment date. Last year, Delaware Courts finally overturned the previous set-precedent, making way for a statewide revaluation that will impact 2023 property values. Huge changes for the whole state that were a long time coming, including massive increases to fair market value and subsequently, property taxes.
Delaware commercial property owners should brace themselves for drastic value increases in all three counties. With an abundance of nationwide changes in the commercial real estate landscape, particularly in a post-pandemic era, there is no question that commercial real estate values will be a focus for inflation in an effort to rebuild lost revenue. While values will increase across the board, we are expecting the hardest hit sectors are expected to be multifamily and industrial, as indicated by nationwide trends, while hospitality should be slightly cushioned due to COVID vacancies and economic downturn. These themes, paired with decades of catching up to do, will be a likely cause for bottom-line-threatening value notices for Delaware commercial property owners statewide.
The new Delaware property values will be in place for the 2023 tax year and the opportunity to informally appeal the reassessments will take place late-2022 and into January 2023. With Tyler Technologies’ use of a Computer Mass Appraisal System (CAMA), Baker Tilly recommends a highly personal and detailed approach to protesting the property value increases in Delaware. Our team of Delaware property tax professionals have decades of experience navigating the complex nuances of reassessments, and specializes in securing maximum tax savings for complex commercial real estate. Our approach is personal, hands-on, effective, and has proven to help our clients save millions of dollars in value assessments and property tax refunds year-after-year. To establish a proactive approach to your Delaware reassessment value, contact our Delaware property tax team today.
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The information provided here is of a general nature and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. In specific circumstances, the services of a professional should be sought. Tax information, if any, contained in this communication was not intended or written to be used by any person for the purpose of avoiding penalties, nor should such information be construed as an opinion upon which any person may rely. The intended recipients of this communication and any attachments are not subject to any limitation on the disclosure of the tax treatment or tax structure of any transaction or matter that is the subject of this communication and any attachments.