New Castle County Got the Time to Fix Its Assessments. It Bought a Report and a Promise for 2029.

The Truthline Briefing | What matters, why, what's next

What matters

The state gave New Castle County more time to find and fix errors in its property assessments before this year's tax bills. On October 22, the County released the result: an independent review of 50 commercial properties, and a plan to reassess again with a valuation date of July 1, 2028 and new bills in 2029.

There is no date for correcting the assessments already on the books beyond those 50 properties. This year's bills go out as they stand.

What happened

Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 228 became law on February 11, 2026, without the Governor's signature. It let the County review its new assessments for errors, and it set the calendar:

• Quality control review and adjustments due by September 30, 2026

• Tax bills mailed by November 16, 2026

• Payment due December 31, 2026, with no penalties until January 1, 2027

County Council seats and several row offices are on the November 3 ballot. The County Executive is not.

The County hired Cushman & Wakefield on April 28. The report is dated October 2. The County released it on October 22, with a press release and an open letter from County Executive Marcus Henry.

What the report found

• Narrow scope. Fifty commercial parcels, exterior inspections only, no interiors and no measurements. The report addresses one of the four SB 228 conditions: parcels worth at least $300,000 whose increase was no more than half the countywide non-residential median (pages 4 and 9). No homes were reviewed.

• Records that do not match the ground. The most frequent problem was record cards that disagree with what the reviewer saw: active billboards not on the record, a former carwash, hotel room counts, apartment unit counts, building sizes, and a neighborhood shopping center classified as an office property (page 13).

• A shaky cost model. Most commercial properties in the sample appear to be valued with the cost model. The reviewer calls heavy reliance on it "problematic," could not determine the source of the County's base rates and land values, and found depreciation based on subjective quality ratings (pages 10 and 13).

• No way to check fairness. The County does not run sales ratio studies and had no income and expense data on any of the properties. It has not yet used its subpoena authority for this review (pages 9 and 10).

• The reviewer's bottom line. The problems are "predominantly issues of data and model configuration" and "they are correctable" (page 21).

The County's chief finance officer, David Del Grande, told Spotlight Delaware that the contractor, Tyler Technologies, only inspected exteriors and relied on County data for interiors. He said only about 1% of commercial owners answered surveys, the County was switching software in the middle of the project, and municipal permit data was missing. The County and the report both say this does not point to broader problems with the reassessment.

What the report does not say

• How many of the 50 were wrong, by how much, or in which direction. Parcel-level findings went to the County and are not in the public report.

• That its numbers are appraisals. The reviewer calls them "guidance," "benchmarks" and "tests of reasonableness," and says they should not be relied on as appraisals (page 8). The report was prepared for the County's sole use (page 6).

• That anyone should wait. Its "Immediate" list calls for field verification of flagged parcels, corrected building sizes and unit counts, and corrected retail classifications (page 18). The County's announcement gives no completion date for that work beyond the 50 properties.

• That 2028 is fast. The report suggests "a triennial or similar cycle" (page 20). The County's new valuation date is four years after the last one. State law now requires a reassessment every five years.

The 2024 precedent

In September 2025, Henry told a legislative committee that his predecessor, now Governor Matt Meyer, directed county officials to hold tentative value notices until mid-November 2024, after the election. Henry said Tyler was ready to release them in the summer, during Meyer's primary against Bethany Hall-Long. Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend called the timing "unacceptable."

Meyer's office denied it. It produced a December 12, 2023 Tyler presentation to the County Council Finance Committee that already listed a November 2024 release, and a 2021 contract with two timeline options, one of which matches what happened. Those documents do not say who made the decision. Henry's office said the decision was made before December 2023 by the prior administration, and that the reason is not documented in County records. Tyler said it delivered data within the contract timeframe.

Both sides agree on the facts that matter here. The valuation date was July 1, 2024. The notices went out in mid-November, after Election Day.

Why it matters

The state handed the County a window to find and fix errors before bills go out. The County used it to buy a report whose main product is advice for the next reassessment. It reviewed 50 commercial parcels and no homes. Everyone else who thinks a value is wrong is told to appeal. The County says appeals have surged, with more than 5,300 in 2025 and about 1,600 this year.

Henry's administration has added assessment staff, named the County's first official County Assessor, and says it has made more than 15 improvements to the appeals process. Those are real. What it has not produced is a date for correcting the assessments already in place.

The calendar also deserves a hard look. Henry could be on the ballot in 2028 if he seeks re-election. Under the County's plan, the valuation date of July 1, 2028 falls before that vote, and the new bills fall after it, in 2029. In 2024, the valuation date was also July 1, and the notices came in November. The County has not said when tentative notices for the next reassessment will go out.

Henry made the election timing of the 2024 notices an issue. It is fair to ask the same question of his own timeline. A reassessment that is "in progress" gives an incumbent something to point to, and what homeowners need is the errors fixed now, not in 2029.

What's next

• Mid-November: Tax bills arrive, due December 31. Check your record for factual errors such as square footage, use and condition. The Assessment Office is at 302-395-5520 or assessment@newcastlede.gov.

• January 1, 2027: The next appeal window opens.

• Ask the County: How were the 50 properties chosen? How many more will be field verified before the next bills go out, and by what date? When will tentative notices for the 2028 reassessment be mailed? When will the parcel-level findings be made public?

Sources: Cushman & Wakefield, Non-Residential Assessment System Review and Best Practices (October 2, 2026); New Castle County press release and open letter from County Executive Marcus Henry (October 22, 2026); Delaware General Assembly, Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 228; Spotlight Delaware (September 30 and October 3, 2025, and October 22, 2026); Delaware Business Times (October 10, 2025); WHYY (October 21, 2025).