DELAWARE - Delaware lawmakers approved six measures this week aimed at reforming the state's property reassessment process, providing tax relief for some homeowners and establishing working groups to recommend long-term changes after controversial countywide reassessments.
Most of the legislation focuses on New Castle County because its reassessment produced some of the largest increases in property values.
Senate Bill 228
Lawmakers passed two more pieces of legislation addressing property tax reassessment when they reconvened for the second half of the 153rd General Assembly, including SB 228, enacted without signature on Feb. 11. This measure granted authority to the Office of Finance for New Castle County to conduct a quality control review of non-residential tax parcels to ensure they were accurately assessed, and correct valuation errors if they were not. Those revisions and corrections must be made by Oct.16. Due to the potential for a change in property values, SB 228 also extended school boards’ deadline for submitting their tax warrants from July 9 to Oct. 22.
House Bill 461
HB 461 was passed by the House on Tuesday. It builds off of SB 228 by giving special authority to school districts in New Castle County to reset their tax rate for the 2026-2027 tax year to account for the adjustments to the New Castle County tax roll that are continuing to be made. These adjustments include the appeal results, quality control reviews, and potential changes from other legislation. However, the tax rate cannot increase the projected operating revenue of a school district, with few exceptions.
House Bill 462 / 242
HB 462 was passed by the House on Thursday. It is a follow-up to HB 242, which gave any school district located in New Castle County the ability to reset its tax rates for the 2025-2026 tax year, and reissue a tax warrant using different tax rates for residential and non-residential property.
Under HB 242, which was signed in August, the non-residential tax rate had to be at least equal to the residential tax rate, and could not be more than two times the residential tax rate. HB 462 continues the authority for non-vocational school districts in New Castle County to set different tax rates for residential and non-residential properties. However, under HB 462, non-residential tax rates must be at least equal to the residential tax rates, and cannot be more than 1.85 times the residential tax rate. The New Castle County Vocational Technical District is not included in HB 462, and may not continue the use of different tax rates past the 2025-2026 tax year.
House Bill 159
Last June, the House passed HB 159, which authorized the county to adopt an ordinance adjusting School Tax Elderly Exemption amounts established on or before January 1, 1998, during county-wide reassessment. This raised the property value exemption limit from $32,000 to $173,000 to align with the current reassessment values. This means that a New Castle County resident that is age 65 or older with a property value of $173,000 or lower would be eligible for an elderly exemption from school taxes. However, eligibility also requires income below $15,000 for a single property owner and below $19,000 for married property owners.
While New Castle County recently raised both the property value exemption limit and the income limits to be eligible for the County Property Tax Elderly Exemption, from $32,000 to $173,000 for property values, and $50,000 for individuals and $65,000 for couples with a combined income, they did not do so for the School Tax Elderly Exemption.
House Bill 463
HB 463, another measure from Rep. Kim Williams and Sen. Jack Walsh, would address that discrepancy by requiring New Castle County to use the same eligibility criteria and calculation formula for exemption from school taxes that it used for county taxes in the fiscal year that began July 1, 2025. This would bring income eligibility limits for the School Tax Elderly Exemption in line with those of the County Property Tax Elderly Exemption, allowing for more lower to middle income seniors to receive relief. This bill also passed the House on Thursday.
House Bill 460
HB 460 works to prepare New Castle County for the next reassessment by expanding permit data sharing requirements. Under current law, building inspectors in New Castle County who issue permits for new buildings, repairs, or additions must report every permit issued to the Office of Finance.
Under HB 460, municipalities must submit detailed permit data, including the status of a certificate of occupancy, and estimated cost of proposed new buildings or proposed repairs or alterations, on a monthly basis.
The increased accountability is to ensure the consistent and timely submission of information, as permit data is necessary for completing accurate property assessments, said the House.
House Concurrent Resolution 150, to establish a statewide Property Assessment Working Group, would be charged with examining the statutory and regulatory frameworks of states that have adopted IAAO standards to develop recommendations, in the form of draft legislation, establishing Delaware's own quality benchmarks and operational requirements, consistent with IAAO and USPAP standards.
As an added layer of protection, HCR 151 with HA 1 would create a Property Tax Relief and Modernization Working Group, which would be tasked with examining relief measures and long-term reforms to Delaware’s property tax laws.
This group would be required to study and evaluate a range of policy approaches used in other states, including many of the approaches reviewed by the bipartisan special committee last year. The group would also look at the potential impact of these policies on the financial security of school districts and local governments. With HA 1, the working group would be charged with evaluating whether Delaware should establish a long-term framework to transition toward uniform property tax rates across property classes.
None of the recommendations or legislation produced in either working group would transfer any assessment authority from the counties to the state. Additionally, each county would maintain independent authority over their respective assessment department and reassessment schedules.
Both the Property Assessment Working Group and the Property Tax Relief and Modernization Working Group would convene within 60 days of the adoption of their respective resolutions, and both would be required to produce legislation ready for introduction in the 154th General Assembly, by June 30, 2027.
The measures now move to the Senate. If approved there, they would head to Gov. Matt Meyer for consideration.
Background
Between 2021 and 2025, all three counties in Delaware conducted property reassessments. It was New Castle County’s first since 1987, Kent’s since 1987, and Sussex’s since 1974. This was the result of a 2020 ruling, which found that Delaware’s property tax system was unconstitutional.
In July 2025, New Castle County residents averaged an assessed home value increase of 433 percent, leading to their bills increasing by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases, according to the House Majority Caucus.
In response, lawmakers convened a special session in August 2025 to pass 7 pieces of legislation aimed at addressing the immediate concerns that arose from the statewide reassessment. Later that month, special committees were formed to investigate the reassessment process and consider additional legislative action to improve the process and offer relief.
