Officials in Seaford want to move ahead with using Sussex County’s property valuations for the city’s property tax bills, but they are not sure the legislature will act in time to make it happen next year.
In order to use county data, Seaford needs to change its charter, and that requires approval by the General Assembly. While Seaford City Council members seem supportive of the switch to Sussex County data, there was a noticeable lack of faith that state lawmakers would approve the change in time to make the switch next year.
Vice-Mayor Dan Henderson noted that it is possible Seaford’s request for a charter change wouldn’t be approved until the final day of the legislative session.
“If not probable, [it’s] likely that this charter amendment won't get voted on until about 3 am on July 1st, the way the legislature has been running,” he said.
With property tax bills due to come out around that time, and the need to set tax rates dependent on whether Seaford uses county or local data, that could put the city in a bind, Henderson said.
“I'm in favor of doing this, but I think that it should be clear that we may have a very tight time crunch to make it in this year,” Henderson said.
Fortunately, the city has a fallback plan if state lawmakers are slow to approve or if they deny the charter change, said Mayor Matt MacCoy.
“We can stay with our existing assessment and bill through our existing assessment next year [and] continue to work on this change should we need more time,” MacCoy explained.
The city’s current assessment dates back to 2019 and, under informal city policy, is good through 2029, MacCoy added.
In addition to the charter change, the city also needs to pass an ordinance actually empowering council members to authorize the use of county data. If council members are worried about slow action from state lawmakers, suggested City Manager Charles Anderson, the ordinance could be made to be effective in 2028 instead of 2027, effectively delaying the change for one year.
“Delaying another year, giving the legislature time to run a full legislative session and see if our charter change makes it through and then we can go the next year and it'll be clarity all the way around for the council, for our residents, our business owners, if that might be preferred,” Anderson said.
Council members approved the charter change unanimously, but because the ordinance was a first reading, did not take action.
