Speak Up: Tyler Technologies to perform property tax reassessment for Kent County

Following a lawsuit over school funding and outdated property assessments, Tyler Technologies will complete a mandatory real-property reassessment for Kent County at the cost of more than $4 million. “Please know that we’re not doing this because we want to. We’re doing this because it was a court order,” Kent County Levy Court President Terry Pepper said during a Tuesday meeting. “We have no choice other than to proceed with a reassessment and finding a vendor that would give us a fair price to do that.” As property tax assessments are a funding component for Delaware school districts, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit in 2018 that alleged the state was not providing adequate funding for education due to outdated assessments. No Delaware county has undergone a property tax assessment more recently than the 1980s — Kent County’s last assessment was in 1987, New Castle’s was in 1983, and Sussex County’s was in 1974.

• So why didn’t the counties come together and do an RFP for all? So Sussex County picked a company that costs $9 million, $4 million for Kent! No word on New Castle County. — Cal William

• It doesn’t matter. The tax increases will pay that back in the first day. — Michael Campbell