Delaware Democrats Eat Their Own Amid Property Tax Fallout
The governor stands accused of withholding assessment data until after voters went to the polls.
County-level Delaware Democrats could gum up the works for their counterparts in the state legislature, who have resisted a vote on property tax relief despite public outrage.
Testimony from a prominent county Democrat and a government contractor has drawn attention to actions Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer took during his tenure as New Castle County executive. Allegedly, Meyer delayed the public release of property tax reassessments until after the November 2024 elections, when he was elected governor.
Delaware's three counties went decades without reassessing property values. But new assessments were set in motion in 2020, when the state settled a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware on behalf of the Delaware NAACP and the nonprofit Delawareans for Educational Opportunity.
The settlement resulted in millions of dollars in new taxpayer costs for public schools in low-income areas. Delaware senior citizens on fixed incomes could be particularly hard-hit by property tax hikes of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
State Rep. Mike Smith, a Republican who represents Pike Creek Valley and parts of Hockessin and Newark in New Castle County, has pledged to reintroduce a measure that would directly address the tax increases.
Limiting School Property Tax Increases
Nearly 30 percent of Delaware’s public education revenue comes from local property taxes. With future assessments now expected to occur every five years, Smith's bill, H.B. 245, would revise state law to limit additional tax increases.
Currently, the law allows an automatic 10 percent real estate tax increase after a property's reassessment. Under Smith's bill, districts would only be able to increase taxes (with a 10 percent cap) to help balance their budgets in the event of a projected deficit.
Democrats tabled Smith's proposal in August to prevent it from receiving an up-or-down vote in the General Assembly. He expressed his frustration in a social media post, calling out Democrats for declining to use the committee process while welcoming public input on his proposal.
Smith plans to bring the bill back in January, and this time, he could receive a boost from Democrats outside the state legislature.
Prominent Democrat Turns on Meyer
In highly revealing testimony, New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry, a Democrat, informed state lawmakers that Meyer deliberately postponed the release of property reassessment figures until after the November 2024 elections.
Meyer, who served as county executive prior to Henry, ran in a highly competitive Democratic primary for governor.
Tyler Technologies, the government contractor working with all three Delaware counties to perform the assessments, corroborated Henry's timeline during the same hearing. The contractor reported that it completed its reassessment work in July 2024.
As Smith prepares to reintroduce his bill, he could receive support from Democrats critical of the actions their own governor took while serving as county executive.
Meanwhile, the Delaware General Assembly's joint Special Committee on Reassessment held its final public hearing on Dec. 15 to investigate the recent statewide assessment. School officials who testified told committee members that the reassessment further exacerbated existing funding disparities between wealthier and poorer districts.
Tyler has an appeal process that property owners can use to dispute their assessment. The company’s call center is open through Dec. 20 for residents to make appointments. Anyone who is still dissatisfied with the results from Tyler can then appeal to the county until March 14.
(READ MORE: Democrats Want to Nationalize Ranked Choice Voting)
