One of the two Delaware Senate bills designed to fix issues that arose in the 2025 reassessment of all First State properties now heads to Gov. Matt Meyer on Jan. 29. 

The passed bill would allow New Castle County to carry out “a quality control review” of select property assessments with any clerical or actual errors, as well as nonresidential properties valued at or more than $300,000 “that decreased from their previously assessed value, or whose tax value is 25% less than its most recent sale price,” among other requirements, as previously reported.   

Many commercial properties received a tax break due to the recently assessed property tax values, while many with residential properties – including small-business owners – saw a spike in their tax bills.   

An additional House amendment, which clarifies that the review parameters listed in the bill do not limit New Castle County “to otherwise make revisions and corrections” to county property assessments, and that the county can conduct additional review “where it appears that an error or mistake in valuation may have occurred,” was introduced. This amendment later cleared the floor by a voice vote.

How we got here: Delaware House committee clears bills on assessment, tax adjustments

The bill cleared the full House floor, with 35 lawmakers in support, 3 against and 3 not voting.

The amended bill then returned to the Senate chamber, where members suspended rules and passed the bill at the end of session. Fifteen state senators voted in favor, while six abstained from voting.

This comes with only days to spare, as Romer wanted to pass this legislation before lawmakers break for Joint Finance Committee hearings.

Doing so would allow counties enough time to adjust and get to work before the next tax bills go out, she explained.

The second of these bills would grant the financial offices of New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties the subpoena power to fix future property reassessments.   

The bill would give these bodies a little more authority to press properties – particularly the nonresidential kind – for more information when modifying assessments based on the frequently used income approach. Legislators have previously insisted such power would be used sparingly.

Despite being on the full floor agenda, has not yet made an appearance.

Joint Finance Committee hearings are scheduled to begin Feb. 3. This will mean the legislative session is on hold until March 10.

It is not yet known when the second of these bills will be heard next.

Olivia Montes covers state government and community impact for Delaware Online/The News Journal. If you have a tip or a story idea, reach out to her at omontes@delawareonline.com.