Senators debate two assessment bills aimed at New Castle County; critics object to late filing

Senators on the Senate Executive Committee on Jan. 21 took up two bills aimed at addressing apparent irregularities from a recent reassessment in New Castle County: SB 228, sponsored by Senator Cruz, would authorize a county‑run quality‑control review (targeted to nonresidential commercial properties and written with a sunset), and SB 230, a companion bill from Senator Mansavinos, would give counties the option to use subpoena power to obtain business information needed for fair‑market valuations.

Senator Cruz said SB 228 was intentionally narrowly tailored to New Castle County, includes guardrails and a runway for the county to implement changes, and does not mandate action; it is enabling and permissive, he said, designed to restore fairness and transparency for small businesses that saw large increases while others saw reductions. Cruz cited constituent examples and said data dug by community members shows irregularities that merit a county review.

Opponents and some committee members criticized the bill’s timing and notification. Senator Hocker and Senator Buxton argued the bill was filed late (reported as filed the previous evening) and was placed in committee the same day, which impeded stakeholder review and caucus consideration. Anthony Delcollo, attorney for the Senate Republican Caucus, raised technical drafting concerns: he recommended referencing related appeal provisions (Section 83.11) in addition to the section cited in the bill (83.12), and flagged potential interactions with existing guardrails such as the prohibition on retroactive taxation for supplemental assessments (Section 83.41). Delcollo warned courts may need to interpret asymmetries if the statutory cross‑references are incomplete.

Supporters, including Senator Townsend and Senator Pinkney, countered that the underlying problem has been public for months via the Special Assessment Committee and that affected small businesses and early childhood providers are facing immediate harm; they said the bill reflects months of public conversations and recommended using amendments where necessary rather than delay. Senator Townsend said the time sensitivity is to allow New Castle County to ramp up vendor selection and implementation during the JFC break, not to bypass public discussion.

Public commenters echoed both views. Scott Kidner (CIRC/Delaware Apartment Association) said the language may address concerns but asked for more time to evaluate numeric thresholds in the draft (for example, a 25% threshold referenced in the bill text) and other parameters. Councilmember Christian Wilower (Wilmington City Council, 5th District) urged requiring New Castle County to conduct quality control across commercial assessments, cautioned against overly narrow categories, and cited a recent example where a newly opened 703‑space parking garage had an assessed value of $416,000.

Senators and staff indicated amendments were being circulated and that sponsors were open to changes; the committee did not record final votes on the bills during this hearing. The committee adjourned after taking public comment.