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Rehoboth opens reassessment bids

New values would not be used until 2014
December 5, 2012

Two companies have submitted bids for a reassessment of property values in Rehoboth Beach.

The two bidders were Rehoboth-based PTA/DelVAL and CLT Appraisal Services, a branch of Connecticut-based Tyler Technologies. The city opened sealed bids on Nov.20 and PTA/DelVAL was the low bidder at $130,000, or $40 per parcel, City Manager Greg Ferrese said. Tyler Technologies’ bid was $240,000.

Mayor Sam Cooper said the next step for him is a special commissioners’ meeting to meet with one if not both of the bidders to ensure the proposals are acceptable. He said he would like to meet with the low-bidder at some point in December or January.

Commissioner Bill Sargent said he expects the commissioners to discuss the issue at the December workshop.

Cooper said the city is in no rush because the reassessed values will not be used until 2014.

Based on a suggestion from Commissioner Mark Hunker, city officials mailed a letter to citizens explaining the rationale for a reassessment.

“We are undertaking this reassessment so that all property owners are treated equally and fairly. Rehoboth Beach has not conducted a citywide property reassessment since 1968. This long period of time has resulted in substantial inequities in assessments throughout the city,” the letter says.

Sargent said when property values were assessed in 1968, the value of the land was about 19 percent of the assessed value. Now land represents about two-thirds of the assessed value, he said.

Sargent said he expects value of properties near the beach to go up, while properties furthest away from the beach will go down. The vast majority of properties, he said, would change up or down by about $100. The city’s property tax revenue would stay the same.

“This is not a scheme to get more revenue,” Sargent said. “It is a way to make those who pay, pay on a more fair basis.”

After previous disagreements, Sargent said the commissioners now appear to be on the same page.

“Everybody is pretty happy with the direction we are going,” he said.

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