Wilmington councilwoman demands reassessment after residents report overvalued properties

# What happened Wilmington City Councilwoman Christian Willauer says scores of residents told her their properties were overassessed during New Castle County's recent canvass. She sent a formal letter to the county Board of Assessment and Office of Finance asking for a re-evaluation of three Wilmington neighborhoods: Tilton, West Center City, and Hilltop.

# The evidence Willauer cites Willauer compared canvass values to recent sales and reported that 61–71% of properties in Tilton, West Center City, and Hilltop were valued at least 10% above sale prices. By contrast, Greenville-area pockets around Hoopes Reservoir and the Wegmans site had only 9–23% of properties overassessed at that level.

# Who's being blamed and why Willauer rejects that defense County officials pointed to contractor Tyler Technologies as responsible for parts of the reassessment process. Willauer says the county remains legally responsible under state law to get valuations right and cannot shift accountability to an outside vendor. She told the county, "If it's wrong, it's wrong," and said the county must do something different if the numbers don't match sales data.

# Political context inside county government Last year County Councilman George Smiley told the city to conduct its own assessment if it wanted different results, saying you contract, monitor, and accept responsibility for the work you commission. County Councilman David Carter warned the public that expecting a door-to-door forensic audit by Tyler was unrealistic and that setting that expectation hurt the auditor's role.

# Willauer's proposed fixes

# Business impacts Willauer highlights Willauer says the reassessment shifted a larger share of the tax burden onto non-residential properties overall, but smaller businesses ended up with steep land values. She gave a concrete example of a small business parcel assessed at $236,000 for 0.03 acres and said small businesses lack the margins to absorb such increases.

# Redistribution concern

# What residents can do now More than 5,200 appeals were filed for the 2025 tax season. The next formal appeal window runs Jan. 1–March 14, 2027. Some municipalities are planning appeal fairs to help residents apply for re-analysis ahead of the next major reassessment cycle in 2030.

# Timeline and fiscal dates to watch