The value of beachfront property in Sussex County increased by 80 times after the first countywide assessment update in a half century, four times the average for all residential property.

That was among the highlights presented by Finance Director Gina Jennings at the July 29 county council meeting, as she wrapped up the four-year revaluation and explained how assessments will affect taxes following the $10 million project.

“When the average of a residential property increased 20 times, those beach properties are seeing 80 times increases,” Jennings said.

During the later stages of the revaluation project, the county posted on its website a calculator for property owners to estimate how their tax bills would change, based on the tentative assessments and tax rates. The calculator was accessed about 50,000 times, with the heaviest use in March, Jennings said.

Tax bills are scheduled to be distributed in early August, the same as past years, she said.

A new calculator is scheduled to go live on the website next week, allowing property owners to see how their final bill will change. It will also note how much of the difference between the old and new amounts is attributable to the assessment and how much resulted from decisions of local school districts.

School taxes account for about 90% of a property tax bill. Districts were allowed by state law to increase taxes by 10%.

Cape Henlopen and Indian River districts held the line on taxes. Jennings said Cape Henlopen was able to do so because it finished paying past loans last school year. Delmar, meanwhile, saw a 25% increase, and others had raises to a lesser extent. Delmar was able to exceed the 10% because it raised other rates that were not capped by the state, Jennings said. 

“Your tax bill is made up of two components – assessment value and the tax rate,” Jennings said. “I’m going to say this over and over again about how the tax bills were impacted. That tax rate in the school districts makes a big difference.”

Cape Henlopen and Indian River school districts benefitted from sharply increasing beach house assessments, while districts to the west, like Delmar, did not, she said

Sussex County’s budget is revenue neutral, meaning existing property did not produce added revenue for the county, although new construction produced a small increase.

The vast majority of Sussex County’s assessed value is from residential properties, at 88%, Jennings said. Commercial is 8%, agriculture is 3% and utilities is 1%.

The 203,000 parcels in the county were reassessed by Tyler Technologies. The court-ordered update of all counties in the state was also followed by a state law requiring updates every five years. Jennings said the next update will cost about as much as the last, and the county will have to determine how to pay for it.

The county hired Tyler Technologies to conduct the assessment update. It held 11,647 informal hearings requested by property owners challenging tentative assessments, with 6,082 receiving a change in value and the balance had no change or withdrawn requests.

That was followed by a formal appeal by owners of 1,723 properties, which resulted in changes for 1,126 properties. Then, 71 appeals were heard by the board of assessment review, and 25 were granted.

While assessment across the board increased by 21 times, changes varied for different types of property. Residential property rose by 21.7 times; agricultural by 19.3 times; commercial by 17.7 times; and utilities by 10.2 times.

Comparing the 1974 values to those of 2023 in each school district, the increase ranged from 14.9 times in Seaford to 23.9 times in Cape Henlopen.

Jennings praised Chris Keeler, director of the assessment department; Katrina Mears, manager of treasury; and County Administrator Todd Lawson for their work with the project

While the rule of thumb for an assessment update is that a third of assessments will go up, a third drop and a third stay the same, Jennings said the county fared better.

The county portion of tax bills remained the same or decreased for 75% of properties, Jennings said. Taking into account school taxes, the bills still dropped for 44% of properties, she said.

Asked by Councilman John Rieley how much the typical tax bill is for the county portion of the tax bill before and after the reassessment, Jenning said it was $124 before and after.

County Councilman Steve McCarron praised the staff for its work but expressed frustration the update was required.

“What’s interesting is when you look at that, though, if you remember what was the cause of the lawsuit, it was about equalization and district funding,” McCarron said. “And absolutely nothing changed. Absolutely nothing changed as a result of $10 million spent, taxpayer dollars in Sussex County.”

General Assembly special session

The Delaware General Assembly will convene a special session Tuesday, Aug. 12, to discuss the reassessment of New Castle County.

The session is being held so lawmakers can discuss how to soften the blow of property taxes that have increased as much as three times for some residents of New Castle County, which are much higher than those of residents in Kent and Sussex counties.