Delaware State Senators voted Thursday to extend New Castle County’s property tax payment deadline after a tumultuous reassessment and lawsuit.
New Castle County property owners originally faced a deadline of Nov. 30 to pay their property taxes. State Senators voted unanimously to extend that deadline to Dec. 31.
Sen. John Walsh said they have worked with state officials and New Castle County’s school districts to address any cash flow issues.
“In those conversations, we are confident that the state's ability to float Division One funds to districts and support payroll roll out districts to endure delay and local funding coming in,” Walsh said.
A coalition of landlords brought a lawsuit against the House in September, arguing that a bill permitting split tax rates for residential and commercial property owners was unconstitutional.
Sen. Bryan Townsend said the original deadline did not account for additional delays.
“And we just feel that it would be silly to send bills out in late November that are due November 30,” Townsend said. “You can kick it one month. People still get the tax write-offs of 2025 but it gives them a few extra weeks to be able to see their bills and make their payments.”
Townsend added that’s the responsible thing to do, especially around the holidays.
That failed in the court system and further delayed the county sending out final bills. The county couldn’t send out bills in the middle of the lawsuit as the Vice Chancellor ordered county officials to include reclassifications and policies for disputing reclassifications in the bill.
New Castle County expects final tax bills to be online Nov. 20th with paper bills arriving in the mail by Dec. 1. That gives property owners about a month to work with the new deadline if the House approves the bill next Thursday.
State Representatives are already set to meet in Dover next week for a special session to address the $400 million revenue shortfall, which includes conversation on a bill that could decouple federal and state tax law.
The House Administration Committee will discuss the bill in Dover Friday as well.
Townsend and Sen. Dave Lawson both said the delays in the reassessment and billing process should be partially attributed to former New Castle County Executive, now-Gov. Matt Meyer, who they said postponed the delivery of updated property values and appeals instructions till after Election Day.
Meyer disputed those claims, with his staff pointing to plans made by Tyler Technologies that timed valuation notices for November 2024, according to Spotlight Delaware.
