Discussions over property reassessments continue in Dover

Handling undervalued properties and how new property taxes will be applied to mortgage escrow accounts were among subjects addressed Nov. 19 during the latest joint House and Senate meeting.

Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, asked New Castle County officials attending the meeting whether they had approached Tyler Technologies – the company tasked with reassessing properties in all three counties – with concerns over anomalies during the reassessment process.

“There’s a clear perception that there are properties that have been underassessed … and people who are underassessed don’t appeal,” Huxtable said. “And when they’re underassessed and don’t appeal, the burden of that underassessment is carried by every single other person, residential or commercial.”

New Castle County attorney Aaron Goldstein said underevaluation is an issue, but there are ways for a county to look at it and adjust.

“But it would require competent evidence to do so,” he said.

Out of fairness for those paying their full share, Huxtable said adjustments should be made to fix those who underpay.

Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall, D-Rehoboth Beach, asked whether mass appraisals will be used in the future. 

“In a previous meeting, we had discussed rolling assessments so it wouldn’t wait until five years, but have it processed where people would have more time to weigh in,” she said.

Goldstein said mass appraisal is common when large numbers of properties need to be appraised, and it is not unique to Delaware. It doesn’t always correspond with fair market value, he said, but it was an affordable option for the number of properties that were required by the court to be reassessed.

As to how property tax payments will affect those with mortgages that escrow the amount and wrap it into monthly payments, Goldstein said residents should contact their mortgage companies for clarification.

Goldstein also shared that New Castle County property owners can change the amount of a property transaction. For example, if a property sells for $200,000, the owner can later change it to $10, or could say it sold for $400,000. Goldstein, however, could not say why a property owner would make the change, only that it is allowed.

Looking to fix problems with the recent reassessment and prevent future issues, Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos, D-Hockessin, questioned proprietary software that was purchased for Tyler Technologies to do the job.

Goldstein said the county owns the data, so it doesn’t matter what companies are doing the reassessments, but any time there is data migration, there can be issues.

Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said communication is key as the process moves forward. 

Kent County helped pave the way by doing its reassessments first, he said, but he’s unsure whether there was communication between Kent and New Castle counties over what worked and what didn’t.

“If that call was made, and that knowledge was transferred, I doubt we’d be here today,” he said. “As you go through the process as we move forward, learn from the mistakes that happened in this past process … make sure you overcommunicate. If you overcommunicate, then people don’t think you’re hiding things. But if things are happening in an accelerated fashion, and these things aren’t well known to the public, then they start to ask questions.” 

Pettyjohn said he was also concerned over Tyler Technologies’ inability to say how they reached property values for some reassessments. 

“When the public is coming to us as the state lawmaking body and asking, ‘How did they come up with these numbers? How did they come up with it on our homes? How did they come up with it for our businesses or for an Amazon distribution center?’ … If that’s not part of that transparent process, we’re still going to have questions, we’re still going to have concerns, and we’re still going to have many members of the public who don’t trust whether what was done was completely right,” he said.

Two more meetings will be held in the future.