AN ACT RELATING TO THE COLLECTION OF TAXES FOR REAL PROPERTY IN THE 2025-2026 TAX YEAR.

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation included a title that was not aligned with the official bill's catch title. The summary statement was also slightly altered to match the official text more closely.

Act Relating to Property Tax Collection for 2025-2026

This act requires New Castle County's tax collecting authority to offer payment plans for property and school taxes due in the 2025-2026 tax year, protecting homeowners from legal action or seizure if they comply with the plan.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the tax collecting authority of New Castle County to offer payment plans for property and school taxes assessed to residential properties for the 2025-2026 tax year.
• Gives taxpayers at least 30 days after receiving an offer to enter into a payment plan.
• Protects homeowners from legal action or seizure if they follow the payment plan.
• Prevents the county from charging fees, penalties, or interest on taxes for those who comply with the payment plan.

Who It Names or Affects

• Homeowners in New Castle County facing increased property and school tax bills for the 2025-2026 tax year.
• Tax collecting authority of New Castle County

Terms To Know

Payment Plan

An arrangement where a taxpayer can pay their taxes over time instead of all at once.

Sunset

The date when the act will no longer be in effect unless extended by another law.

Limits and Unknowns

• This act only applies to property and school taxes for the specific tax year of 2025-2026.
• The protections end on December 31, 2026, unless a new law extends them.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT RELATING TO THE COLLECTION OF TAXES FOR REAL PROPERTY IN THE 2025-2026 TAX YEAR.
This Act is a short-term response to the recent tax reassessment that protects homeowners, who have received substantially increased property and school tax bills for the 2025-2026 tax year, from legal action while the General Assembly and New Castle County explore long-term solutions.

Many Delaware homeowners have raised several troubling questions and concerns about the property reassessment process. After the reassessment, the tax burden has drastically shifted to homeowners, which has hit vulnerable groups the hardest, including seniors, low-income families, and long-term residents.

This Act requires the tax collecting authority for New Castle County (“County”) to offer payment plans to all taxpayers to pay county property and school taxes assessed to residential properties for the 2025-2026 tax year. After offering the payment plan, the County must give a taxpayer at least 30 days from the date of the offer to enter into the payment plan.

If a taxpayer enters into a payment plan and makes payments in compliance with the payment plan, the County may not collect the taxes owed out of the taxpayer’s real or personal property, including by filing a civil action to collect the taxes or by seizing or selling the taxpayer’s property. Additionally, the County may not charge fees, penalties, or interest on taxes owed by taxpayers who make payments in compliance with the payment plan.

This Act sunsets on December 31, 2026, unless otherwise provided by a subsequent Act of the General Assembly. But the prohibitions on collecting taxes out of the taxpayer’s real or personal property and on charging fees, penalties, or interest on taxes continue to apply to payment plans that extend on or beyond December 31, 2026, so long as the taxpayer remain in compliance with the payment plan.