Did You Know the New Castle County property tax reassessment is currently underway?
The last assessment was conducted in 1983. The new assessed values will be effective for the 2023 tax year.
Even though the county has committed to raising NO additional revenue with this reassessment, I have not seen a similar statement from the school districts confirming no increases.
I share this because there is the one aspect of the reassessment that may not be as well known: School Districts get the opportunity to increase their property tax revenues by up to 10 percent the year the reassessment occurs.
If you are concerned that the School District portion of your real estate taxes will increase, we are asked to contact the School District to address your concern.
Based on the information I’ve read, the 10 percent applies to the average of 33 percent of district revenues that come from the property tax, so it’s potentially a 3 percent hike in a district’s overall revenues.
Counties, on the other hand, must roll back their tax rates to come out of the reassessment revenue-neutral.
If you have comments that you’d like to share on this topic, send me an email at Lynn@mey4de.com.
FOR REFERENCE:
Revenue Limitations of Reassessment State Code Title 9 – sec. 8002
c) When any total reassessment of taxable properties within a county of this State shall have become effective, the county property tax rate levied for the immediately ensuing fiscal year shall not be such as to yield county property tax revenues greater than 15 percent in excess of the total of the county property taxes imposed for the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which such reassessment shall have become effective. Any initial assessment made on new construction shall not be taken into account in determining such limitation.
d) When any total reassessment of taxable properties within a county of this State shall have become effective, a tax rate shall be computed so as to provide the same tax revenue as waslevied during the prior fiscal year. That rate shall be known as the "rolled-back rate".
e) The ordinance establishing a property tax rate upon total reassessment shall state the percent, if any, by which the tax rate to be levied exceeds the rolled-back rate computed pursuantto subsection (d) of this section, which shall be characterized as the percentage increase in property taxes adopted by the governing body. Within 15 days of the meeting at which the ordinance shall be considered by the governing body, the county shall advertise, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, said percentage increase in the tax rate.
House Joint Resolution 22 established a committee in 2008 “to supply recommendations to provide a mechanism for a fair and equitable reassessment of all real property in the state.”
According to the committee recommendations, excluding growth in the assessment base due to new construction, in the aggregate, County and Local governments and School Districts should be limited to a 7.5% increase in revenue as a result of the initial reassessment. Overall revenue growth resulting from subsequent reassessments would be limited to 5%.
Sources Used for this newsletter:
https://www.newcastlede.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17404/NCC-Reassessment-2-17-PDF