Sussex County
Delaware





Project Documents

Income and Expense Form


Sussex County, in conjunction with Tyler Technologies, is currently undergoing a county-wide reassessment of all real property resulting in new residential and commercial property values for the 2024 assessment roll. For reassessment projects like Sussex County, commercial properties are valued by the “cost approach” and the “income approach.” To properly apply the income approach to value, we require current and relevant income and expense data from owners of commercial, industrial, and apartment properties in Sussex County.

Beginning in September 2022, Sussex County began issuing commercial valuation surveys to nearly 4,500 business properties throughout the county as part of the ongoing reassessment process. The surveys are for commercial property and business owners only, to provide important information about activities, which will then be used to help form a property’s overall value. The surveys are issued by mail, and should be returned to Sussex County by October 31, 2022. For more information regarding the collection of data for income producing properties, please use the links below:

sussex-county-seal.png

Sussex County
Property Reassessment

All things change with time. Sussex County’s assessment system is no exception. Sussex County has contracted with Tyler Technologies to conduct a reassessment project to update property assessments from a base year of 1974, providing an efficient technical process with current, accurate property values.

The purpose of conducting the reassessment is to comply with a Delaware Chancery Court ruling in 2020 that found property taxing systems in each of the state's three counties to be unconstitutional and not in keeping with Delaware law.

So, what's next? Property owners should be on the lookout for our data collectors beginning October 1, 2021. They will be making their way through Sussex County, visiting the more than 180,000 parcels on record, measuring improvements on each property and collecting data. Data collectors may also ask residents/occupants several questions about a property. The purpose is to get as much information about a given property so our teams can accurately compute every parcel's value. The process should last through late 2024.

Once the data have been collected, each property owner will receive a data mailer with the information that was collected for verification of accuracy. Property owners should receive mailers in late Spring 2023 through Summer 2024.

Upon receiving the data mailer, property owners are asked to notify the County if any errors are present, or if assessors missed some other pertinent information. This is a critical step in any transparent reassessment process. Accurate information ensures the most accurate value for your property.

Once all information is collected and data mailers have been returned and reviewed, Tyler Technologies will then analyze the data. Property owners will receive their tentative assessment notices in Fall 2024. Property owners should follow the instructions on the informal notice to review your tentative property values and schedule an informal review if necessary.

For more information, please download our frequently asked questions (FAQ) document and check back here for updates as the project progresses. Key dates, as well as pictures of the data collectors, will be uploaded to this website. If you have questions about whether a data collector is in your area, please feel free to call the Sussex County Assessment Office at 302.855.7824.

Latest News

Over 150,000 parcels have been visited by Tyler’s data collectors for the countywide reassessment. This represents 81% of the overall parcel count for the county of Sussex. Data collection is on track to be completed in the spring of 2024. Data collection crews have completed all work in the west side of the county and are now concentrated on completing data collection in Tax Districts 235, 334, & 335 – Milton/Rehoboth/Lewes.

In mid-January, you will begin to see some of our data collectors transitioning to begin working in tax districts 130, 230, & 330 – Milford/Ellendale/Slaughter Beach and surrounding areas.

Although our primary focus has shifted to collecting data in the east, you may still see our data collectors in areas that were previously collected. Revisits take place to add new construction from permits, confirm or correct property data during quality control checks, or to follow up on requests from property owners to revisit and update their data. In any case, our process is always the same, and our data collectors can be identified by their bright yellow vest, county issued photo ID, contractor magnets on their vehicles, and can also be confirmed by viewing their photos on our project website, under the section for Project Documents, Data Collectors.

It is also important to note that Tyler data collectors do all of their work Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and we never ask to go inside of anyone’s home or auxiliary buildings. All measurements of buildings are done on the exterior of a structure. If an adult is available at the property to answer questions, data collectors may ask a series of questions pertaining to the dwelling, such as:

  • Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
  • Types of heating and cooling systems
  • Year house was built
  • General construction, materials, and physical condition of the interior and exterior
  • Level of finish to attics and/or basements

The data collector will also take photos of any buildings on the property using an iPad or camera to assist in identifying the property and to support valuation of its improvements for reassessment purposes.

For the latest map view of our data collection activities, please scroll down to the Project Documents and click on the link to the Data Collection Dashboard.

We're Hiring!


Public Meetings

Materials

Past Meetings

  • Sept. 11, 2023, at 6 p.m., hosted by 1st State Community Action, Coverdale
  • Jan. 24, 2023, hosted by Millville Town Council, at the Millville Town Hall - presentation by Todd Lawson, Sussex County Administrator with Q&A by Gina Jennings, Sussex County Finance Director and Mary Noldy, Tyler Sr Project Supervisor
  • March 4, 2022 at the Sussex County Association of Towns (SCAT) monthly meeting – an overview of the reassessment presented by Todd Lawson, Sussex County Administrator, with Q&A by Michael McFarlane, Tyler representative
  • July 21-30, 2022 at the Delaware State Fair - Tyler representatives provided an opportunity to learn more about reassessments taking place in Sussex, Kent, and New Castle Counties.
  • Sept. 30, 2021, 6 to 8 p.m., at Seaford Volunteer Fire Department, 302 King St., Seaford
  • Sept. 29, 2021, 6 to 8 p.m., at Millsboro Town Center, 322 Wilson Highway, Millsboro
  • Sept. 27, 2021, 6 to 8 p.m., at Delaware National Guard-Bethany Beach Training Site, 163 Scannell Boulevard, Bethany Beach
  • Sept. 27, 2021, 2 to 4 p.m., VIRTUAL, View Recording
  • Sept. 23, 2021, 6 to 8 p.m., at Delaware Technical Community College-Owen Campus, 21179 College Drive, Georgetown
  • Sept. 23, 2021, 2 to 4 p.m., at Milton Fire Department, 116 Front St., Milton

Contact Information

Sussex County
Assessment Division
PO Box 589
Georgetown, DE 19947
302.855.7824

Tyler Reassessment Office:
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
302.854.5274

Have additional questions?

We compiled a list of frequently asked questions to help you better understand how a reassessment works and how it affects you. Click the link below to review the questions and responses.

View FAQ