Kent County Levy Court details tax changes as result of reassessment

DOVER — Kent County Levy Court has detailed the proposed property tax-rate changes that came as a result of the county’s reassessment of property values, which would go into effect July 1.

The new rate would be 5.72 cents per $100 of assessed value, a significant drop from the previous rate of 36 cents per $100 of assessed value. Though, according to county officials, this does not necessarily mean that the amount of taxes paid drops for everyone.

“From the beginning, we said about a third of property owners would pay a little more in taxes, a third would pay a little less, and a third would stay about the same,” wrote Levy Court commissioners in an open letter to property owners.

“We’re still crunching numbers, but we think that projection will hold. The driving factor isn’t the tax rate; it’s the assessed value of a property.”

Because the change in reassessed value varies by the property, tax paid will vary too.

“The old system used 60% of 1987 values. The new system uses fair-market valuations as of July 1, 2023. The commissioners’ goal was to be revenue neutral, so the property tax rate had to be lowered to offset the increase in assessments,” said assistant county administrator Lauren Gutierrez.

Officials noted this is only the county tax, which does not include any school district or library tax, or change the fees for streetlights, trash and recycling or stormwater.

“It is important to remember that for every person in Kent County paying a dollar more in property taxes, there’s someone paying a dollar less,” said commissioners.

According to county administrator Ken Decker, the average Kent County home is valued at $400,000. With the new rate, the property tax would be $228.80 per year, or around $19 a month.

“For services like state-of-the-art 911, outstanding EMS, parks, recreation and all that we do, we think that’s a pretty reasonable price,” said Levy Court Commissioner Robert Scott.

Under state law, Mr. Decker says that the county will need to do another reassessment in five years.

The county expects to vote on the budget this month.