Delaware County Tax Reassessment Project
Commonly Asked Questions: (UPDATED 07/08/21)
Who conducted the Countywide Reassessment?
In March of 2017, Delaware County was court ordered to conduct a countywide reassessment. Tyler Technologies was selected by the County to complete the reassessment. The reassessment was completed in an effort to regain countywide uniformity for property tax valuation. It was 20 years since the last reassessment was completed.
How do I determine how my new assessment will affect my school property taxes?
The new assessment value (could) will probably mean that your property taxes will change. In a normal reassessment, 1/3 of the properties will go down in value, 1/3 will remain the same, and 1/3 will see an increase in value. A change in value does not necessarily mean that your taxes will increase. It is the amount of the valuation increase that decides whether you will see a tax increase.
As required by law, the municipalities and school district are required to reset their millage rate based on the new assessment value. To put it into a simple example:
If the assessed value of the municipality was $50,000,000 and they raised $2,000,000 in revenue from that assessment value. The tax rate would be 40 mills (2,000,000/50,000,000).
When the reassessment is completed, the municipality must first reset their millage rate. If the new municipality assessed value is $100,000,000, the new mills would be 20 mills (2,000,000/100,000,000).
The issue arises from how much a particular property owner’s assessed value increased. If the original assessment on a particular property was $179,000. They would have paid $7,160 in our example (179,000*40/1000). If the new assessment value is $358,000, then the property owner would still pay $7,160 at the new 20 mills tax rate. However, if the new reassessment value is $500,000, then the new taxes would be $10,000 (500,000*20/1000). The value of the property caused an increase in the taxes beyond the resetting of the tax rate.
How will my school taxes be impacted?
In the year of a Countywide Reassessment, before the school district can consider increasing school real estate taxes, it must first realign the millage rate so the new rate generates the same amount of overall school tax revenue as the 2020-21 fiscal year (a process commonly referred to as “revenue neutral”). When the total assessed value increases, the millage rate decreases.
What should I do if I don’t feel the new assessment is fair?
The Court’s granted deadline to file a tax assessment appeal for 2021 was September 1, 2020 and has passed. The deadline for filing a tax assessment appeal for 2022 is August 1, 2021. You can visit the Delaware County website www.delcopa.gov for information on filing a tax assessment appeal.
Please remember that the assessed value of your property is set by the Delaware County Board of Assessment and only they can change that value. If you have a question about your assessed value please go to https://delcopa.gov/treasurer/boa.html for information on assessment appeals.
Dear Haverford Community Residents,
In March 2017 Delaware County was ordered by the Court to conduct a countywide property tax reassessment, effective for the 2021 tax year to address what the court found to be inequities between and among property owners and communities that had developed since the previous assessment two decades ago. Ultimately, the purpose of the reassessment is to distribute the property tax equitably among properties based on current fair market values. All reassessed property values are generated by Delaware County and not the School District, and at this time the District does not possess any information with regard to the proposed reassessed values.
It's important to note that the reassessment cannot legally be used by the county, by any school district, or municipality to generate more tax revenue. Following the reassessment, millage rates will be adjusted accordingly to ensure no additional revenues are collected as a result of an overall increase in market values. However, while the overall impact on a community is designed to be revenue neutral, individual property owners may see their taxes decrease or increase. The new assessed value of your property will take effect beginning on January 1, 2021. We caution you not to apply the current millage tax rate to your new assessment, as the result will be inaccurate. The new millage rate will be determined by your Municipality, County, and School District for the 2021 tax year.
Delaware County has set up a website dedicated to educating residents and answering questions regarding Delaware County’s Tax Reassessment Project. The website includes a video presentation on the Tax Reassessment process. The website can be found here: https://www.delcopa.gov/publicrelations/releases.html
A Reassessment Hotline has also been set up for residents to call with any questions or concerns: 610-891-5695.
If you have any further questions you can visit these link: