Ed Zygmonski’s letter had some useful information about the Sussex County reassessment process. However, it also shows he doesn’t fully understand how and why the process was done.
The key phase in his letter was “Now, I know my home here in Lewes is valued way more than what it was in 1974.” The reason this process was done was exactly for the case of homeowners who own a home that has not been reassessed for decades.
Most homeowners (like me) who bought a home within the last 10 years were assessed with a much higher amount at that time. Most state counties have tax reassessment processes that are done more frequently than every 50 years!
Basically, homeowners like Ed Zygmonski were paying less than their fair share of taxes for decades, while newer homeowners were paying more than their fair share. I checked the tax calculator and found out my taxes decreased by 10%.
If you take all of the newly assessed tax bills and add them up together, the total amount should be revenue neutral from last year’s total. This is exactly the intended result.
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