2025-08-21

August 21, 2025

As I've discussed previously, there were major structural problems that we (as a county) encountered after the first reassessment in over 40 years.  Residential property values skyrocketed compared to commercial values, and the county taxed non-residential properties at a higher rate.  We couldn't legally do that, so the General Assembly passed HB242 to allow school districts in New Castle County (such as Christina) to do the same thing.

With the passage of HB242, we scheduled a special meeting (this meeting) to approve a new tax warrant (the thing that the county uses to collect taxes for us) using the new split rate.

Agenda Item 4: Approval of Revised Tax Warrant

Our CFO Bob Vacca presented our work and the new tax rates.  This was basically the same information that he gave at the August 20 CBOC meeting and The Rick Jensen Show on August 19.  Basically, if we use the following tax rates, we can keep the residential burden similar to what it was last year (a little higher), shifting the burden back onto non-residential properties.  The big shift in our new rates is apartment buildings; they'll be paying more than before, but the county considered them non-residential for their tax rates, and their density makes it so that any burden can likely be distributed without too much pain.

• Residential rate: 0.61499%

• Commercial rate: 1.21023%

The residential rate is 23% less than it was in the bills that went out in July, and the commercial rate is 51% higher.  This is about the maximum that we could do for residential homeowners, since HB242 caps the difference between the rates at no more than double.

Note that HB242 only allows us the ability to issue a split rate for this year.  This ability is a stopgap measure.  As Vacca says, it must be the first bill, not the last bill, in addressing school funding in Delaware.  We'll need to work closely with legislature between now and 2026 to find a meaningful solution that is clear, understandable, and does the job (funding students' education in our public school system).

The updated tax warrant passed unanimously.

(Exceptional Delaware awarded Vacca the coveted Delaware Hero of the Month award for his tireless work on this.)