Sussex County institutes a payment plan for some residents hit by big property tax increases.
The payment plan option comes as a result of state legislation passed to address property tax-related issues during a whirlwind special session of the General Assembly earlier this month.
Among those bills was HB 241, which requires counties to allow homeowners whose tax bills at their primary residence increased by more than $300 to pay their tax bill in installments.
“The payment plan will allow three equal payments until December 31st without penalty," Sussex County Finance Director Gina Jennings explained.
The payments would not be subject to interest charges, as long as taxpayers pay each installment on time.
“If one of the payments is missed, penalty will be applied back to the accounts and the payment plan would be 1/3 of the payments due when it would have typically have been due - September 30th - another third on November 15th, and another third on December 31st," Jennings said.
To see if they qualify and take advantage of the program, residents need to register on the county’s reassessment website at sussexcountyde.org/reassessment.
According to Jennings, about one in four residential taxpayers saw a tax increase.
“We had 24% of properties that were impacted negatively by the reassessment, so less than one-third," she said. "The majority of those properties were in the Indian River School District and the Cape Henlopen School District.”
Council members unanimously approved the measure.
