SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - Property assessments are coming for the first time in over 4 decades. On Tuesday, Sussex County Council agreed to settle the 2018 education funding lawsuit that will create new property values.
The ACLU of Delaware says this system has historically underfunded public education in the state.
The ACLU’s executive director says low-income, English language-learners and students with disabilities have fewer resources to be successful in the classroom, and he believes the assessments will change that. Sussex County is the last Delaware county to settle the assessment lawsuit.
90 percent of the residential tax bill is for local schools, and properties here in Sussex County have not been assessed since 1974.
"This is going to reset the system and ensure everyone is paying their fair share, and ensure we have better funded public schools in the near future,” said Mike Brickner, Executive Director of ACLU of Delaware.
The county says the court's decision is not one they welcome, the County Council President Michael H. Vincent said, "Unfortunately, the court did not rule in our favor, and while we may disagree with the outcome that now ties our collective hands, the reality is our options moving forward were limited. "
"It's not a very good system in Delaware where the public schools are having to constantly go back to tax levies and increases in their funding with the voters,” said Brickner.
Brickner says the reassessment will provide consistent funding for those schools.
According to the county, the assessments will begin later this year and finish by 2024, so homeowners may start to see that price change around that time.
At this point in time, it is not known how much taxes would go up, or possibly down for some.
The county said in a statement, “All properties, whether undeveloped or with improvements, will be evaluated and re-calculated based on current industry-accepted methodologies to produce new assessments that will reflect their true value in money.”
The ACLU of Delaware is welcoming the new changes.
"We know that education is so important in Delaware. If we want a strong community and a strong state, public education is the cornerstone of that,” said Brickner.
The county says once the settlement is finalized in a few days, the county will start searching for companies to perform the first general assessment in 47 years.
The county also says it will spend about $9 million to do the assessments.