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Property Reassessment Coming Soon To Delaware County

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Changes are coming to the tax bills of Delaware County property owners, as a judge is ordering the reassessment of all 200,000-plus property values across the county.

A judge ordered the re-assessments after some property owners claimed the assessment of their newer construction homes were too high and unfair, largely, attorney John Murphy says, because Delaware County's last property value assessment was in 1998.

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"Comparable sales that the county was using bore no resemblance to the properties that were newly constructed," Murphy explained.

That was a violation of Pennsylvania law requiring taxes be levied uniformly and fairly, according to a county judge. His order says the assessments will begin later this year and the new values will be used beginning January 2021.

Murphy points out changes to property values and resulting taxes must be revenue neutral.

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"In other words, the county can't use the reassessment to increase the tax burden overall on tax payers," he said.

And Murphy says Delaware County is not unique, as most counties in Pennsylvania haven't reassessed property values in decades.

In comparison, Montgomery County's taxes are based on an assessment from 1996 that went into effect in 1998. Bucks County's base year for assessments is 1972.

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