The General Assembly’s Special Committee on Reassessment met in Dover Tuesday to hear from representatives from the business sector. It was the fourth of five sessions to analyze the reassessment process and problem solve for the future.
Several speakers spoke out against House Bill 242, which passed earlier this year and allowed New Castle County to implement split tax rates to redistribute the tax burden between residential and non-residential property owners.
Apartment complexes are considered non-residential properties. The Delaware Apartment Association’s membership includes about half of the rental housing stock in the state.
Its representative and former president Kevin Wolfgang said manufactured and rental housing should be considered residential when it comes to property taxes.
“We are committed to affordable housing, not just in our [Low Income Housing Tax Credit] portfolio, but across all of it,” Wolfgang said. “And you're making it incredibly difficult for us to maintain that commitment… And if you want us to reinvest into our own communities, if you want other people to come and invest in Delaware, this needs to change.”
Wolfgang and several other speakers claimed the burden unfairly impacted non-residential property owners, including small business owners. Wolfgang added treating apartment complexes as businesses trickles down to low-income renters.
Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children Executive Director Jamie Schneider said that’s especially true for child care programs.
They already operate on slim margins that don’t allow for massive cost increases like those many are seeing in their post-reassessment tax bills, Schneider said.
“This is a financial moment unlike any other for child care providers in early care and education that Delaware has seen…” Schneider said. “The majority of center-based programs rent their space, and in almost all cases, landlords pass that tax increase directly to tenants.”
And in-home child care providers aren’t getting away scot-free, Schneider expanded.
“Remember that our family child care providers, who are the only child care providers in Delaware providing off-hour care, overnight care and extended care, truly beyond the six-to-six time frame, are seeing their residential property taxes increase,” Schneider said. “And then they also have a burden that they are commercially licensed as well to host their businesses, and they're seeing anywhere between a 10 to 40% increase.”
Those kinds of increases can be devastating to small businesses. Schneider said that could lead to child care being inaccessible for people like CNAs and firefighters who already can’t afford traditional child care avenues.
The Delaware Farm Bureau’s program and policy coordinator Sydnie Grossnickle echoed similar findings of some farmers being priced out of their land following reassessment. She clarified that DFB is supportive of House Bill 242 and saw most farm businesses taxed residentially.
“And we are very thankful for that, but a couple got caught in the crossfire,” Grossnickle said. “To put it in perspective, this small farm that is historical and generational [is run] by two siblings. They keep a few greenhouses. In 2024, their tax bill was roughly $5,500. Their July tax bill of 2025 was $25,529, an over 350% increase from the previous year. Their November 2025 bill recently released, $36,951.”
Grossnickle said the DFB has fairness concerns with the reassessment process, namely that Tyler Technologies used “outsized market valuations on farm structures over actual income or use values.”
“Like everyone else, we want predictability and transparency,” Grossnickle said.
Several speakers Tuesday, including those in the restaurant and child care industries, said they want to see more classifications among business properties to ease the burden on small businesses.
The Special Committee is set to meet for its final hearing Tuesday, Dec. 9 to hear from the state’s school districts.
