Copyright Wilmington News Journal
Members of the special property reassessment committee will not be meeting on Nov. 4 as initially scheduled, as lawmakers await a final decision on litigation. A lawsuit filed by a coalition of landlords, hotels and other lodging businesses had a hearing on Oct. 20, and a ruling was promised by the end of October. The plaintiffs claim that New Castle County school tax bills that apply different rates, or “split” rates, to residential and commercial properties are unconstitutional. This schedule change doesn’t come as a surprise. What was supposed to be the third scheduled special committee hearing was canceled as a result of this ongoing litigation. Even near the end of the first committee meeting on Sept. 30, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend told fellow members that these dates were subject to change. Townsend later told Delaware Online/The News Journal what happens next depends on the judge’s ruling, which is expected to come Oct. 31. Leadership is currently working to arrange “as many as three additional hearings” for the next coming weeks and into early December, according to a press release issued Oct. 30. The fourth meeting was slated to tackle reassessment and its impact on education funding. Many committee members on both sides of the political aisle still have burning questions regarding reassessment, including where Delaware needs to go from here. “So far, this has been a process of trying to figure out who those justifiably angry fingers are pointing in which justifiably responsible directions,” House Minority Whip Jeff Spiegelman, who has been tag-teaming with House Minority Leader Tim Dukes on attending committee hearings, said. “And now that it seems that we have done that to a large degree, the thing that is left for us to do is to start figuring out what to do about it.”
