Delaware General Assembly

Stricken 8/12/25

HB 242 w/ HA 1

8/12/25

Wilson-Anton

This Amendment allows a school board to set different tax rates based on real property zoning classifications effective on June 30, 2025, and limits the highest tax rate to 2 times the lowest tax rate. Under common law, Delaware counties and municipalities have longstanding authority to separately tax different classes of real property if the classification is reasonable and, as required under § 1 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution, the tax rates are uniform for all property in each classification. See Green v. Sussex County, 668 A.2d 770, 776 (Del. Super. Ct. 1995), aff’d 667 A.2d 1319 TABLE (Del. 1995); Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Smith, 131 A.2d 168, 177-78 (Del. 1957); Phila. B & W R. Co. v. Mayor & Council of Wilm., 57 A.2d 759, 765-66 (Del. Ch. 1948); Conrad v. State, 16 A.2d 121, 125-26 (Del. 1940). However, to err on the side of caution, this Amendment also includes a severability provision because this Act is not amending the Delaware Code and as such, the general severability provision under § 308 of Title 1 will not apply if the language added by this Amendment is held invalid.

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