Sussex County updated its tax credit program for seniors and people with disabilities at its meeting March 25.
County Council unanimously approved two ordinances that change the property value thresholds as well as residency requirements to qualify for tax exemptions.
All three counties in Delaware conducted court-mandated property reassessments, with Sussex County’s final values coming in last month. It’s the state’s first reassessment in about 50 years.
The tax credit programs are dependent on property values, meaning they need to be updated to accommodate for the increase in property values as reassessment comes to a close.
Sussex County’s finance director Gina Jennings said tax exemptions on school taxes were offered to folks whose homes were worth less than $12,500. She said that needs to be raised proportionally with the new property values.
“Obviously, with the assessments going up, $12,500 is not going to make much of a difference to them now. So we had to come up with a new number, which is the $229,000, to make it very similar to what happens this year,” Jennings said.
The changes will only impact county tax, Jennings said.
“I want to be clear that these changes do not impact the State 65 program. That is a state program, has nothing to do with income limits. This is a discount on your school taxes, and we have over 25 thousand properties that have applied for that program, and they would still qualify today.”
County Council also approved an increase to residency requirements from three to five years.
