Legislators grill Tyler Technologies over property reassessments

There was a certain irony to the first committee meeting on recent property reassessments resulting in higher tax bills for many being held on the same day taxes were due in both Kent and Sussex counties. 

And although the tax due date in New Castle County is Nov. 30, legislators, New Castle administrators and Wilmington administrators met in Dover Sept. 30. The day mostly focused on higher upstate property taxes as legislators questioned representatives of a Texas company hired to do property reassessments in all three counties.

Again, ironically, Wilmington officials testified that homes in low-income neighborhoods have shouldered steep tax increases following property reassessments by Tyler Technologies, the company hired to reassess properties in Delaware after a Chancery Court judge ruled in favor of a 2018 NAACP lawsuit that had argued outdated property tax assessments were causing inequitable school funding and negatively affecting education for low-income students. 

Cerron Cade, former Office of Management and Budget director under Gov. John Carney and now chief of staff for Carney, said there were abnormalities in appraisals, particularly in areas where unimproved homes in Wilmington were appraised comparable to newer homes or homes that had been renovated.

“We would like to see an environment where there is a sampling of internal appraisals especially in neighborhoods where we know for sure there have been a lot of housing projects that have occurred … so that we’re not solely using just the permitting data and comp sales that we add this extra information to our dataset to get us closer to a fair market value,” he said.

Downstate legislators focused mostly on new, higher assessments placed on farmland.

Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said his concern revolves around the lack of transparency with the methodology used, particularly in assessing poultry farms.

“The question is why there was so much difference in poultry farm valuations in Kent County over Sussex,” he said.

Pettyjohn said he met with poultry farmers and members of Tyler Technologies a year ago about the methodology used to determine poultry farm values, and they left with no information.

“Tyler Technologies was unwilling to share the specific methodologies that were used to develop valuations on ag lands, farm structure and structures that were used for agricultural live production so that we as lawmakers, policy makers in Delaware and in the counties could understand that rationale,” he said.

During the hearing, Pettyjohn specifically asked Tyler Technologies for the methodologies used to determine the value of farmland in each of the counties.

Michael McFarlane, project manager for Tyler Technologies, said agricultural property is in its own property class, separate from residential or commercial, but he could not speak to specifics on how property values were placed on farmland.

Smyrna-area Sen. Kyra Hoffner continued questioning McFarlane about farmland assessment, quoting Title 9 in state code that says there cannot be discrepancies among counties causing economic disadvantages.

“If we’re having a different valuation on a chicken house in New Castle compared to Sussex County, how is that equal?” she asked.

McFarlane again said he could not answer the specific circumstance, and said the cost approach is used to determine the value of farmland.

Hoffner continued to question how farm structures were valued.

“I’m getting farmers up and down the state that say their valuations are all over the place,” she said. “I found a structure that no one has lived in for 100 years with a tree growing through it, but yet was assessed at $700,000.”

In response, McFarlane said condition and quality are considerations in the improvement analysis, and on-site physical inspections at poultry farms did not happen over concerns of the avian flu.

“If it's the case that a property owner believes their property is overvalued, then the avenue for relief is through the appeal process,” he said.

More meetings are planned, but with two lawsuits now pending against New Castle County property reassessments, the timing will revolve around court action.