Rep. Ed Osienski

Yesterday we held a special ceremonial session to commemorate the 250th anniversary of our country.
It was great to join my colleagues and other guest in the New Castle Court House Museum, where our first ever General Assembly met in 1776. So much of our nation’s early history has happened right here in Delaware and I am grateful to those who organized today’s event to remind us of that.

If there’s one thing everyone in New Castle County can agree on, it’s that no one wants the next reassessment to go like the last one did.

That’s why I was proud to support legislation like HCR 150 and HCR 151.

HCR 150 established a statewide Property Assessment Working Group that is responsible for studying the most widely-used assessment and appraisal standards in the world, including those published by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), to understand the best benchmarks for assessment accuracy, uniformity, transparency, and administrative practice in mass appraisal.

The group will also look at the frameworks of other states that have adopted IAAO standards to develop recommendations, in the form of draft legislation, establishing Delaware's own quality benchmarks and operational requirements, consistent with the highest standards.

HCR 151 created the Property Tax Relief and Modernization Working Group, which is tasked with examining relief measures and long-term reforms to Delaware’s property tax laws. This group is required to study and evaluate a range of policy approaches used in other states, including the potential impact of those policies on the financial security of school districts and local governments.

Together, these two working groups will help the General Assembly draft the best possible legislation to ensure that Delaware’s property reassessments in every county run smoothly every 5 years.

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New Castle County property owners submitted over 5,300 appeals to the county in 2025, resulting in $3.8 million in tax refunds going back to residents. That’s a testament to the fact that there were significant issues with the county’s first property tax reassessment in nearly 40 years.

One of the largest discrepancies was in how residential and non-residential properties were assessed, leading to millions of dollars in lost taxes, and placing more of a burden on homeowners. One of the most impactful solutions to this problem was SB 228, legislation that I was happy to support.

SB 228 granted authority to New Castle County to conduct a quality control review of non-residential properties to ensure they were accurately assessed, and to make corrections if they were not.

50 non-residential properties were selected to undergo these reviews, and of those that have been completed, the corrected values are astronomically different. One property’s assessed value even increased by over $60 million!

By mid-November, when updated bills go out, those property owners will be expected to pay their fair share.

Late last spring, almost as soon as New Castle County property owners began receiving their first tax bills since the reassessment, they quickly noticed that something wasn’t right - and many reached out to their state representatives for help.

In August of last year, we convened a special session to provide immediate relief to residents. HB 240, sponsored by Rep. Kim Williams, and HB 241, sponsored by Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha, were two pieces of legislation to come out of that session.

Together, the measures allowed residents who overpaid their tax bill by $50 or more to receive a direct refund and required counties to offer a payment plan for residents whose bills jumped by $300 or more after reassessment.

These bills were important early steps toward providing relief to residents as the bipartisan reassessment committee worked to identify longer-term solutions and improvements to Delaware’s property assessment system.

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We can make an impact on the fight against childhood cancer and honor some of our community’s bravest heroes: kids and teens fighting cancer.
3rd annual Hero Day at Newark Charter High School September 27th.

Looking for something fun to do this Friday night?

Picked Your Decade Yet?

The countdown is on, and excitement is building for the Newark Senior Center's 60th Anniversary Retro Remix Dance Party!

Will you rock the 50s, groove through the 60s, disco into the 70s, go neon in the 80s, or bring your favorite 90s style?

Join us for: • Live music from Big Boy Brass
• Best Decade Dressed Contest
• Retro Photobooth
• Dinner and dancing
• 50/50 raffle
• A celebration 60 years in the making

Tickets are selling fast! Don't miss your chance to be part of this unforgettable night of friendship, fun, music, and memories.

Open to the Public • Bring Your Friends • Everyone Welcome!

Friday, September 25
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
$35 per person. Includes dinner and live music from Big Boy Brass
Menu includes seafood lasagna, vegetarian lasagna, meatballs, salad, bread, and dessert.

Newark Senior Center
200 White Chapel Drive, Newark, DE 19713

Get your tickets today before they're gone!

Register online: Register for the Retro Remix Dance Party at www.newarkseniorcenter.com

Register in person at the Newark Senior Center Front Desk or call (302) 737-2336.

One Night. Six Decades. Countless Memories.

Every year, Delaware schools issue tax warrants to the counties they are located in. These warrants give the county the authority to collect taxes at a rate set by each school district on behalf of each school district. This shows up in your annual county tax bill alongside your property taxes.

HB 242 was a response to an issue with New Castle County’s reassessment, which led to widespread reports that non-residential properties were underassessed, while residential properties were overassessed. Under this legislation, any school district located in New Castle County could reset its tax rates for the 2025-2026 tax year and reissue a tax warrant using different tax rates for residential and non-residential property. The non-residential tax rate had to be at least equal to the residential tax rate and could not be more than two times the residential tax rate. This helped to shift some of the undue financial burden from property owners.

HB 462 continues the authority for school districts in New Castle County to set different tax rates for residential and non-residential properties. However, under HB 462, non-residential tax rates must be at least equal to the residential tax rates and cannot be more than 1.85 times the residential tax rate.

I was proud to support these pieces of legislation. Without them, New Castle County residents who saw their property values skyrocket would have also seen their school tax bills skyrocket, while non-residential properties, like Amazon’s 5-story high and 640,000 sq ft Boxwood distribution facility that saw its property taxes go down during the reassessment, would only get more tax reductions.

If you own property in Delaware, then you have certainly heard about the recent statewide property tax reassessment.

Between 2021 and 2025, all three counties in Delaware conducted property reassessments. It was New Castle County’s first since 1983, Kent’s since 1987, and Sussex’s since 1974. This was the result of a 2020 ruling, which found that Delaware’s property tax system was unconstitutional.

In July 2025, New Castle County residents received their first tax bills since the reassessment. Due to the decades-long gap between the last reassessment and the lawsuit-mandated one, as well as errors in the reassessment process itself, the average New Castle County resident saw their assessed home values rise by 433% – leading to their tax bills increasing by hundreds or thousands in some cases.

In response, lawmakers convened a special session in August 2025 to pass 7 pieces of legislation aimed at providing urgent relief to the most heavily impacted residents. Later that month, House and Senate Democratic leadership formed a bipartisan Special Committee to investigate the reassessment process and consider additional legislative action to improve the process and offer targeted tax relief.

The 153rd General Assembly has now passed over a dozen pieces of legislation related to property reassessments. This week we’ll take a dive into some of the most impactful reassessment bills that made their way through the legislative process this session.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend yesterday's bill signing, but I am very glad to see HB 411 officially signed into law!

This new law officially renames the Division of Alcohol and To***co Enforcement (DATE) to the Division of Alcohol, To***co, and Ma*****na Enforcement to reflect the agency's expanded responsibilities following the launch of Delaware's legal retail ma*****na market.

Our Division of Alcohol and To***co Enforcement officers have a long track record of ensuring compliance and protecting the public, so extending that same expertise to ma*****na enforcement is a natural next step for them. I want to thank them for being such great partners throughout this entire process and for being so willing to step up and take on this new role.