AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO COMPENSATORY PAYMENTS FOR CERTAIN EXEMPT PROPERTIES OWNED BY THE STATE.

This bill changes the program for distributing payments to cities with tax-exempt properties owned by the State. Instead of directing payments only to county seats (Wilmington, Dover, and Georgetown), the bill will authorize payments as well to any city with a population over 25,000 and more than 20% tax exempt property. It also raises the annual cap on the amount distributed by $500,000 and adjusts the formula under which these distributions are made. This bill improves the formulas to enable the elimination of specific dollar earmarks, and to enable all of our state higher education institutions to be treated equally in this section. The bill is designed to ensure a slight dollar increase to each of the three county seats, while initially adding Newark to the program, at a much lower benefit level than the other three cities.