The legislative Special Committee analyzing the reassessment process met for its second hearing in Dover Tuesday.
New Castle County saw more turbulence in the process than the state's other two counties, with homeowners – especially those in low-income neighborhoods – taking on more of the tax burden post-reassessment.
State legislators asked why the reassessment process went smoother in Kent and Sussex Counties.
Kent County administrator Kevin Sipple said its assessment process saw many property owners challenge preliminary assessments and voice confusion over their properties’ new assessed values – and the county responded.
“We intensified our public outreach – town hall meetings, mailers, website resources and staffing of phone lines to explain the methodology and appeal process and how to interpret the notices,” Sipple said. “Transparency was not a slogan. It was a continuous commitment during this entire process.”
Sipple said public trust in Kent has improved overall and the revenue burden for homeowners held constant. Sussex County saw small shifts in the burden and made several efforts to spread the word about the appeals process.
“The only percentage that concerned me as we were going through this was that we only had less than a percent of formal appeals,” Sussex County finance director Gina Jennings said. “So what we did do is we advertised a second time in the paper to say, ‘hey, it's open. Come and appeal.’”
State Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) said Kent and Sussex County prioritized transparency and communication.
“It is apparent to me through this process that New Castle County skipped this step and did not engage with stakeholders such as New Castle County legislators, school districts and most importantly, our constituents,” Williams said.
Kent County staff reached out to the public prior to the assessment starting, including two workshops for folks to come in and ask questions.
Sussex County staff met with school districts and their finance directors, folks in the poultry industry, town officials and constituents at town halls.
Wilmington reassessment values raise eyebrows
Tyler Technologies’ used several variables to see how accurate their assessments were overall.
And while most of New Castle County’s variables were in acceptable ranges, Wilmington came out with several values outside of acceptable limits, according to Tyler Technologies’ reports.
The International Association of Assessing Officers sets the standards that reassessments should meet. IAAO assessment advisor Justin Eimers said unacceptable ratios can sometimes call for another reassessment.
“It's common for certain areas of, say, a county to not hit IAAO standards,” Eimers said. “And you've got instances where there's areas that are really hard to appraise because there might not be a lot of comparable sales in that area, or there's a lot of properties that are very unique.”
52% of informal appeals and 65% of formal appeals in New Castle County saw a change in their values, according to State Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos.
Sipple said Kent County saw similar numbers, and 40 to 60% of appeals getting updated values sounds high but is standard for appraisals without interior assessments.
