UPDATE: Here’s the official response from Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss…
The City of Decatur is not involved in anyway in the property appraisal process.We currently have no information as to why the land value vs. buildng values have changed. We have only received composite aggregate digest information which indicates an overall increase in real property of about 2% – all in new value. We have calls in to the DeKalb County Tax Assessor’s Office to see what information can be provided and will pass that along as soon as possible.
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The reports are rolling in and residents are clamoring for a thread to discuss the oddly dramatic changes to DeKalb County’s recent tax assessments. A resident for reported the oddities to DM yesterday in an email…
We haven’t received our 2012 DeKalb County Property Assessment in the mail yet, but I logged on this morning to the online site (http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/PropertyAppraisal/realSearch.asp).
There is a huge computer bug with these values. The “Land Value” component and the “Building Value” component have been reversed (the “Land Value” generally should be much lower than the “Building Value”). Checking several properties, it looks like the “Land Value” has been initialized to a constant value of either $236,300 or $233,900 which, of course, is way too high.
This was followed by a conversation in an unrelated thread from other residents about similarly bizarre increases in land value and huge declines in building values from the tax assessor’s office. Some experienced increases while others saw massive declines in assessment.
This morning, a resident in the Clairemont/Great Lakes neighborhood emailed in that the assessment adjustments had resulted in a neighbor’s house, which was once assessed at $100,000 more than the emailer’s home, was now valued at $300,000 less.
Strange goings on, indeed. Report your assessment changes here and I’ll see what I can dig up.
Our land value is now $328,400 which is probably a couple hundred thousand too high. The total fmv of our house and land has apparently doubled since last year – from 293,900 to 597,300. Will be filing an appeal for sure. Two neighboring houses similar to ours have been for sale in the mid $400s for a while and have not sold.
Looking at two houses on Superior. One is a 3/2 with 3,000 sq. ft., went from $639k last year to $445k this year. Just down the street, a 3/3 with 2,000 sq. ft. went from $396k last year to $619k this year. That’s a swing of $417k in relative value between these two houses on the same street.
Over here on Lamont (where lots are apparently now worth $308k), a 4/2 with 2,100 sq. ft. went from $468k last year $568k this year. Two houses down, a 3/2 with 4,100 sq. ft. went from $583k to $355k this year. That’s a swing of $328k in relative value between these two houses on the same street.
To my mind, this means either a computer glitch or absolute insanity.
I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but since tax assessments are a matter of public record, I looked up a couple of my neighbors’ tax bills and a couple in an adjacent neighborhood. Every single property in each neighborhood that I reviewed has the exact same value for “Land”, and all of the land values more than doubled. It seems as if Dekalb Co. just assigned a value for a lot in each neighborhood and applied it to each parcel despite the fact that all of the lots are not the same size, dimension, etc.. I don’t have any explanation or theory as to why some of the “Buidling” values have gone down by 150% though other than error by the tax assessor’s office.
My gut feeling is that this is a money grab by Dekalb, and they intended to increase our assessment by increasing only land values. The building values should have remained unchanged. The huge decrease in building value just makes no sense. But, they are too incompetent to take more of our money without screwing it up (scary, huh? Aren’t you glad these people are controlling that money?). I hope I am wrong.
Alternatively, if these bills don’t contain errors, how hard would it have been to include a short letter with the assessments (or a post on the tax assessor’s website) advising everyone not to be shocked and explaining they had revised the equation/formula for land vs. building value? How and why would also be helpful.
I was inclined to be conspiratorial as well until I saw some of these huge drops. Also, as long as you have a Homestead + Freeze exemption, this won’t result in any additional revenue for the county from City of Decatur residents, but our city and city school taxes will jump.
I haven’t looked outside the city limits. Are county folks seeing similar doubling and tripling of land values?
I also noticed the increase in land valuation and decrease in building value. I am guessing that the property tax assessors are tired of folks appealing their taxes and getting large adjustments down. No one will be able to argue with the lot value (they appear to be reasonable), so they are essentially base loading the combined values (which in my part of decatur did not change much unless you bought your home last year, in which case it went up to sales price).
So, if an adjustment is made after an appeal this year based on a mistake by the tax assessor in the size or condition of the building, the adjustment will be much lower now because the lot value is so much higher. Actually it is a pretty smart move by the assessors to get as much tax as possible.
Can you check the tax records online? I so can you share the link?
Hehehehe
2009-2011: Everything had remained the same year over year.
2011-2012: Land Value UP $9100; Building Value DOWN $76,300.
Total Value drop of over 14%
Bringing my questions over to this thread…I have never appealed, nor have I spoken with someone who has appealed., so this process is all new to me.
1. What’s involved in a reassessment? Do they actually come out to look at your house?
2. Can a reassessment result in value going UP?
3. How does the dramatic shift in land/building value affect insurance?
P.S. Someone I work with who lives in DeKalb outside CoD saw a huge jump. Last year’s assessment: $607,000. This year’s assessment: $1.2 million.
1. They don’t have to come to your house to reassess.
2. Yes.
3. I don’t think it matters re: insurance, but I had the same thought. Would be interested to hear if someone disagrees.
they will come to your house to measure/evaluate if it is a mistake in their records on something like square feet of space. and they will measure from outside the home so you don’t have to let them in.
I did an appeal of value my first year in my house on N Decatur. I filled out the form for reassessment, gave good comps in the area (including an identical house next door), and sent it in. They rejected it. I filed for an appeal to my rejection and had to go before a board review (of my peers). It was my argument versus the assessor. They rejected my appeal with no explanation, but told me I could pay $300 something to re-re-appeal, to which I declined. The only positive info I gleaned was after meeting with the assessor and the board, the assessor said not to give up- he appeals his house value every year.
The next two years I tried to appeal- one year I missed the deadline and last year they lost my appeal and I was too unmotivated to fight it. I got my assessment in the mail yesterday but haven’t opened it…
When I bought my house, I appealed the intial assessment successfully because it was way over the price paid. Then I successfully appealed any increases in assessment after that for years on the basis of it being the worst house on the street. Somewhat to my chagrin, that argument always worked. When assessors inspected the house, they would say things like “Oh, now I see what you are talking about….” or “I haven’t seen anything like that in a long time….” or “I agree that’s a converted porch with no privacy, not a bedroom.” When we finally remodeled, the assessments after that always seemed fair enough even if all the data in the system were wrong, e.g. number of bedrooms, bathrooms, improvements, etc. This is the first time that I have felt that the assessment is so off-base and expensive that I cannot ignore the errors. Houses are not going up on our street and we have not improved our home or lot. In fact, I might have a good argument that our house is competing for worst house again thanks to family wear and tear and the fact that we never got back to the rest of the renovation.
You should talk to your insurance agent about doing an assessment for your house on how much it would actually cost to tear it down and rebuild it. If you have a fire or something that destroys your house you still own the land, and you will only need to pay for someone to haul off the debris and rebuild a new house. How much you insure your house for replacement value has literally nothing to do with how much it’s assessed for by the county. They build McMansions in the far out burbs for under $200k – so how much could it really cost to replace most ITP houses that are much smaller?
Our assessment has gone up quite a lot but it is split about 1/3 land and 2/3 property and is back up to just below what it was in 2008 and 2009. The valuation had dropped significantly in 2010 and 2011.
So, unless we win on appeal our city property taxes increase by $5 or 6 thousand next year? Ouch. May be time to consider moving outside city limits.
Wow! Where do you get that amount?
The absolute incompetence of DeKalb County government shines again. I live in unincorporated DeKalb. My overall value supposedly went up $16K in one year. This coming on last year when initially all of the homes in our subdivision went down by over 50% in value. Several of my neighbors complained and the county sent out revised valuations (costing us, the taxpayers more money). The whole of DeKalb County government leadership from Burrell to the Board of Education should be replaced with fiscally responsible individuals willing to do the right thing. That being, live within the means of the county & do not raise my taxes.
Vote no on the TSPLOST July 31, unless you want to feed this relentless, wasteful government.
That said, a big shout-out to the sanitation department. You guys do one hell of a job. Thanks.
Year Land Building Total
2012 124,115 38,085 0 162,200
2011 108,500 133,300 0 241,800
2010 108,500 133,300 0 241,800
2009 108,500 128,600 4,700 241,800
2008 108,500 128,600 4,700 241,800
We sit in the middle of 3 lots that are almost exactly the same size. One has a land appraisal $60K higher. The other is $80K higher. I’m assuming that DeKalb County decided to save money by firing or furloughing their appraisers and turning the assessments into an 8th grade* class project.
Looks like we might not be able to get that HELOC or construction loan we were thinking about. Then again, with our tax bill savings, we might not need it.
*My apologies to any 8th grader who might be reading this. I’m fairly certain that you are already much smarter than anyone working for DeKalb County.
are you in the city of decatur, unincorporated dekalb, or another city?
City of Decatur!
lucky… you must be loving that $38,085 house about now. I do not think your loan company would even bother to look at the dekalb assessment; they usually do their own appraisal if you are applying for a construction loan or refinance.
our decatur home flip flopped this year in building value vs land value but the total value only went up 1 or 2 percent.
the home we sold in a nearby city in dekalb almost 2 years ago for just over 500K got assessed this year for almost 1million. totally a mistake.
sounds like there will be a lot of appeals this year! way to go dekalb!
I don’t know. It seems like just yesterday I was lounging around a $133,300 house thinking about how good life was. Now I need to pour myself a Margaritaville margarita just to take my mind off this 95 grand paper loss! It’s 5:00 somewhere, right?!?
We seem to be a mixed bag in my neighborhood. They’ve dropped the valuation of my house by 22%, and I also see the same flipping of valuation between land and house that others have remarked upon (though my house was never highly valued). I polled six neighbors to see if they experienced similar drops. One, who has added a second story in the last three years, says their valuation was increased. Two others have been given substantial decreases, and one has stayed even. Two others have not yet received their appraisals.
I’m bought my house in Oakhurst in September 2011. Our new assessment is about $35,000 above what I paid for it. The surprising part of my assessment is that it valued my lot at about $35,000 more than my neighbor’s lot. Our lots, however, are virtually identical, with the same dimensions, same grade, both have an easement running through them for a county storm drain, etc. In fact, the lots were subdivided from one larger lot about 3 years ago. It simply can’t be right that there’s a $35,000 difference between the values of our lots.
My land value increased by double, but my building value was cut in half. Overall, a 20% increase in valuation.
Something is screwed up!
The mantra from the tax commissioner’s office is “Just send them a bill and most of them will just pay it.”
Pulled up 7 houses on our street, all extremely similar in house age, house size, lot size. Values range from $475k to $1.2 million. haha!
Okay–I know I’m going to sound like an idiot, but I don’t see the land value/building value breakdown on the “Annual Notice of Assessment” from Dekalb Ct that I received in the mail yesterday. Is this the wrong form or do I not know how to read it? I see fair market value and assessed value only.
Also, about 4-6 months ago a private assessor said our house was valued at 330K but this form says current year value (down 10K from last year) is 371K. Is this what people appeal? And if so, do you just bring in a private assessment to compete with theirs?
I’m so confused!!!!
You’re not an idiot. They don’t put it on there, for whatever reason (honest or otherwise).
You can look up your property here to see both the land/building breakdown, as well as historical values (click on “Additional Property Data” near the bottom left).
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/TaxCommissioner/search.asp
The value broken out by land and building is on your tax bill and also viewable in your property record at the County Tax Commissioner web page. (Google “property tax Dekalb Co Ga” or go to http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/TaxCommissioner/tc-home.html and select “Property Tax” from the list at the left. Enter your address (number and street name only, omit word “street” or “road” or whatever) and it will bring up your record.
Thanks GM and smalltowngal–unfortunately when I try to access the information both ways suggested, I get a “500 internal server error.” Tried two browsers just to be sure. Wonder if the system is overloaded?
I’m sure their server is being bombarded and will crash at some point but I’m searching on it right now. Try this direct link:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/PropertyAppraisal/realSearch.asp
Seems to be working with IE and Firefox. If you’re able to browse other places, I have no idea what’s wrong.
The search page is accessible, but once I try to actually access a property record I now get the same error.
That’s the experience I’m having as well.
Nope, you’re right. When I tried to pull up specific info, encountered the same error you did. Guess their server crashed (or somebody with an impulse for self-preservation pulled the plug).
I think the system is overloaded. I was having the same problem when I was poking around.
We live in the Wheatfields Place neighborhood over off of Katie Kerr Drive and almost our entire block has seen a ridiculous rise in their assessments. Personally my building value went up 41%, land up 137%, and total assessment up 69%. None of the sales in the neighborhood in the last few years would indicate a rise in property values (quite the opposite). I’d like to think that this was an honest mistake, but a simple quality control check of the year over year valuation data should have thrown up red flags all over the place. My tin-foil hat is on while I await the blubbering responses of our elected overlords on the local news.
Our small lot tripled in value, and our untouched/unrenovated house went up $80,000. Checking the list of houses that have sold in our immediate neighborhood in the past 2 years, none have sold anywhere near the price they quoted for 2000 sq. ft. with 3/2 and 1/2. I’m waiting for the notice that something went zooey at the tax assessor’s office….
So, after reading all the posts, I think I have it figured out. Clearly the tax assessors blindfolded each other and took turns throwing darts to determine land and building values for each property. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern at all.
The Tax Commissioner does not assess property values, nor set millage rates. They are a billing and collection agency. The Property Appraisal office establishes property values. Elected officials establish millage rates. Notice the breakdown of the costs too. County operations is primarily the courts (juvenile, magistrate, probate, state and superior) sherriff, jail, tax commissioner, district attorney, solicitor. Many of these budgets are controlled by consititutional officers who do not report to the CEO or Board of Commissioners.
That’s right. These are the folks responsible for the assessments:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/PropertyAppraisal/index.html
Property Appraisal Department
120 West Trinity Place,
Room 208
Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: 404-371-0841
Man, I was so stoked when I saw our new assessment last night. Down 33%. Thousands in savings per year.
Seeing what a cluster this actually is, based on tons of personal accounts, there has to be some kind of major mistake, and I’m guessing this year’s assessments will be changed/rectified/rescinded.
I have always wondered why we elect the Tax Commissioner. It may be a legacy from a time when the county was much more rural. My guess is, that as an elected official, she doesn’t report to Burrell.
It seems like it would make a lot more sense for the position to have professional qualifications having to do with appraisal and administration.
Very rough estimates for my area of ~100 homes: Most properties, except those on odd lots or swampy locations, had land values go up the EXACT SAME proportion to almost three times last year’s value. So definitely a systematic process. The less expensive homes had a big decline in house value that took them to about a 20-25% increase in total valuation. The more expensive homes had a greater decrease in house value that took them to about a 10% increase in total valuation. So I think a group effort in protesting the ridiculous almost three-fold rise in land values in just one year would be more successful than individual efforts where they could pick you off one by one and say that they actually undervalued your house so now your individual total assessment is actually higher.
Questions:
– Are group protests of an area’s consistent but unreasonably large increase in land value likely to be successful? The open market definitely has not shown a huge increase in house values on our street.
-Is there a proportion of total assessment that is reasonable for an average home in Decatur? In other words, what is a proportion that is way out of line in either direction? Last year, my house value was 64% of the total assessment; this year it is 21% Which is reasonable and which is laughable?
I think a fair, approximate valuation for the building is replacement value. If a tornado levelled your house today, the land value would be unchanged, but your loss would be roughly equal (ignoring insurance company depreciation equations) to what it costs you to rebuild. IMO, something comparable to the resulting proportion would be reasonable.
Uh oh. So how do I figure out replacement value? I haven’t had to replace a home thank goodness! My only experience is in buying the whole package, land plus home. I do know what it cost us to renovate the house and that would make last year’s home value assessment much more valid than this year’s.
This whole thing seems like a trick. I know that the three-fold increase in land value is bogus. But do we dare appeal it? The assessor will say that it is the same as the increase for other homes in our area and besides, look at the ridiculously low house assessment–it should be raised. So property owners with unreasonable land value increases have to band together and fight the land value part. Otherwise, this year, they raise your land value unreasonably and next year they may follow suit with the house values, saying that they had been set too low. (Of course this may be ascribing way too much logic and forethought to DeKalb County.)
Your insurance agent can talk to you about replacement value based on a range of variables. But don’t waste your time. I’m convinced the land/bldg weirdness is a coding error, based on my own history of reassessments: 2000, land = 12% of total value; 2002, land = 30% of total; 2005, land = 28% of total; 2006, land = 36% of total; 2012, land = 74% of total which seems like a simple flip-flop. We can probably expect them to own up to that error and fix it somehow, although not with any grace or promptness or efficiency. IMO not worth trying to appeal. What merits more attention is the seeming arbitrariness of the overall value changes. (Personally, I find it hard not to believe there’s some intentionality embedded in the bumbling.)
I am not sure that you can justify making your lot value go back to what it was just because it tripled in the tax assessment. Is the new assessment close to market value? Have any lots or teardowns sold near you lately? Our land value use to be under $100K (a joke) but our total value was close to what we paid for the house. Now our land value is approximately what a empty lot would sell for (or what a teardown would sell for (there are no empty lots on my street in decatur). I would be more concerned about your total assessment than lot value.
And if you want to appeal, go to the dekalb county tax assessment website, go down your street and find similar houses (size, age, condition) and write down how the county values them. Make a nice little table showing that you are out of whack with the others. I think you have to come up with a number, not just say this one is wrong. Write them a letter logically making your case. In my experience they have been reasonable. And if there are mistakes in the size of your home, they will come out and remeasure. If you have an old appraisal showing measured square feet, that is a good place to start to see if the county is off.
I have a feeling we will all be getting reassessed this year.
ours went DOWN 75 K … although love the idea of a lower tax bill, there is something wrong here … are there some foreclosures in Decatur that are affecting these bills?
Teardowns are more likely to affect valuations.
Well, I ended up with an extra room on record somehow and an 87% increase in total value. Land value is the same as everyone else’s. Home value increased >$170,000. Sounds like a computer bug as well as a lack in procedures (Is there not some sort of exception report that shows unusual jumps and ouliers?? Did anyone in the county office think to review data or even samples of data along the way for these issues ??? Correcting these errors wll now require appeals, reassessments and and oodles of paperwork. For those who do not notice on time because their mortgage company handles taxes through escrow, they will be stuck with their valuation, which will be a windfall for the county.
In my experience, mortgage companies are all over it when escrow is going to fall short. I heard from my mortgage company several weeks ago advising me of the estimated escrow shortage. (Notice of reassessment from the County only arrived yesterday.)
The extra room error does not affect appraisal. I have had that happen before. It’s square feet, not rooms.
But doesn’t the number of bedrooms factor into home value? I’ve seen all kinds of contorted remodeling done to create a closet so a room could be counted as a bedroom, regardless of how impractical it would be to use it that way.
The people at the county swore to me that bedrooms made no difference; you don’t even have to appeal to change it. Number of bedrooms effects RESALE like crazy though!
Huh. As far as I can tell, valuations in my immediate area don’t follow the sort of pattern noted by AHID above. My next door neighbor’s land is valued at about $84000 less than mine, for basically identical lots, and looking around at some new construction in Decatur, I see a property assessed at $570,000 more [!!!] than the price paid for it a few months ago.
Our property had the exact same assessed value as 2011, which is only a problem because we purchased the house in late-2011 for about $130,000 less than the assessed value. DeKalb County is obligated to lower the assessment to the sales price if the sale is an arm’s length transaction, which it was. I filed the appeal last night. Sounds like it is going to be a busy year for the Board of Equalization.
Otherwise, I expect to see a notice from DeKalb shortly to advise us of a computer error and to disregard the previous estimate.
What a cluster*
We live on Kirk Crossing. Everyone, as far as I can tell, on our street has gotten a notice of assessment that is 60% to 71.2% higher than last year. Ours is the 71.2% increase. Our house has increased from $286,500 to $451,200 and the land from $95,500 to $202,800. That doesn’t follow the computer glitch theory. Lots of ticked off people here in WP. One person (not on Kirk Crossing) has had an increase of 97% Wondering how we can get a group revolt/appeal process going. Or perhaps it would be better to just clog their system with individual appeals.
My questions:
– How do they decide which properties to reassess in a given year? (After purchasing in 1999, I received new assessments in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2012. Not sure about historically, but this year it does not seem like they looked at the whole street, more like they threw darts as someone suggested.)
– To what extent do new sales in the vicinity drive (1) when you get reassessed, and (2) your value?
– Judging from my own historical data, when they reassess a property they look at the land and the building independently. (Never mind this year’s apparent flip-flop of land/bldg which seems to be a coding error.) What are the variables that drive value up or down for each?
– Speaking of that coding error, what are the implications if that doesn’t get corrected? I can envision all sorts of confusion and aggravation relating to insurance, but don’t know if that is actually likely.
I seriously doubt if anybody at the County will weigh in here with helpful info the way our pals at City Hall do sometimes when we are questioning or fretting about something. But maybe some of you know some of these answers.
I’m not as sure about the coding error anymore. Definitely there’s something amiss about all the assessments in which land values went up several fold and house values went down a ton to result in 10-25% increases in total property assessment. But the way many homes in my area had land values increase by the exact same proportion, going out several decimal places, is making me think that a systematic multiplier was being used rather than a coding error. Of course, it’s very possible that more than one error and/or assessment strategy is in play, depending on your area. My biggest fear is that the weird assessments in land value will stand unchallenged because we’re all afraid to appeal as individuals for fear that the result will be worse than the current assessment. Then, 1-5 years later, the County comes back and says our house assessments are ridiculously low and need to be raised. Will the land values go back down? I doubt it.
Huh. I just checked online, and our house value declined by $80,000 and land value increased by $119,000. So, what looked like a small increase overall is actually quite strange. I mean, the house is an old bungalow, but I seriously doubt these numbers are right now.
Our assessment dropped by 66%. The building value drop was more than 80%. There are houses down the street that are about 2/3 the size of our house whose assessments went up and are now valued at more than twice what ours is. This is unincorporated DeKalb, but I’m not sure how much that factors into the assessment.
I’m not naive enough to think that my house value has gone up, but none of this makes any sense.
Is there anything “official” coming out of the assessment office (or the “Property Appraisal Department”)? Has anyone asked them for comment on how the numbers were derived? I smell brewing lawsuits.
Just saw on the Oakhurst listserve that someone saw on another Decatur listserve (I know, not even second hand), that the Property Appraiser’s office said there is a widespread error in the system.
My latest theory is that the bizarre range of City of Decatur assessments are not due to random chance but to random methodology. Sometimes a multiplier was used on land values, plus or minus a decrease in house values; sometimes an impressionistic approach was used, sometimes creeks and busy streets were factored in, sometimes lot sizes; sometimes a whole area was targeted with a certain methodology, sometimes random properties.
How many county assessors are involved with this process? Do they use standard algorithms or is is a subjective approach? Does the City sit in at all?
Now that I’ve studied the assessment data more than I ever dreamed I would, I see lots of other squirrely issues. The number of bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage can be off. The “miscellaneous improvement” column has information that corresponds to what? Certainly not when actual renovations or improvements occurred. Properties with megarenovations have all zeros in that column but relatively high house values………so what’s the meaning of that field?
I have never had much faith in this process and county assessments always seemed disconnected with the real estate market but it never seemed unduly unfair before.
DM: This would be a good subject for an anonymous poll, no?
-Did your total property assessment this year go up, down, or no change? By what percent?
-What percent of your total assessment is your building value this year? What was it last year?
-Are you going to appeal your property assessment?
-Would you join a group of Decatur citizens to review assessments and bring concerns to the County and City?
The miscellaneous improvements field is generally for free standing garages, sheds, etc.
Yes, but not today. The website is getting hit pretty hard right now…as you can probably tell!
Never attribute to animus what can be explained by incompetence.
Did anyone else have their land AND house go up, even if they didn’t do anything to it? Can someone explain to me how our house, just the building, went up $80,000, without us doing anything to it? along with our land tripling…
Yes, your property value can increase without your lifting a finger to improve it. That’s the beauty and magic of in-town real estate and a strong school system. (The latter being relevant if you are inside the Decatur city limit, obviously.)
But this round of assessments seems to be a hot mess, probably for more than one reason. My working theory is that the appraisal office tried to get crafty but they bungled it. And then made at least one type of careless error on top of that.
Their website is down now – what a surprise!
Last night when I checked, our land value had gone from $81,000 to $213,000 and our home value from $193,900 to $218,000. (can’t quite remember the breakdown, but something close)
Total value – $431,000.
If anyone offered us $431,000 for our house, we would be moved out by the end of the day.
Very inconsistent home values among the homes on our street. I have been inside these homes; they are similar or much nicer; they are valued under $100,000.
However, I did notice that most of the lots had been increased to the same – either $203,000 or $213,000.
I left messages for my staff contacts. Perhaps we all should….
I would love some advice.
We have 2 parcels and our total increase is 26%. However the breakdown is, as others have said, very odd.
One parcel is only land and went up by 85%!
The other parcel is land and house and it went up by a total of 20%, but the land went up by 183%!!! and the building went down by 56%!!
Crazy stuff.
I’ve been waiting for these to come out for a while now, looks like I will be going for the appeal process as well.
I just tried to look on the commissioner’s website and get this every time:
ERROR 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
Guess I can find out the good news later, I assume it’s crashed from everyone around here trying to check it at once, or someone over at that office got mad at everyone realizing their incompetence and just pulled the plug on the server so the calls would stop!
I’d be willing to be that all of this was done on purpose and systematically. To increase revenues as a whole, and to hopefully prevent more appeals by valuing the land more, and giving the county the ability to say “hey we dropped your house value for you already!”
Most folks’ “dirt” value in our neighborhood went up an average of $112,300.00 (I agree with a prior poster that it certainly would be hard to argue the value of your dirt in an effort to have things reassessed). That being said, 99.9% (my figure) of the improvement values were dropped, and rather significantly, except for MINE and one other neighbor’s. So, my 3/2 circa 1951 is valued at just a few thousand less than the 5/4 redo a few houses down.. AND they DID change our quality code to average plus for 2012, and on what that was based escapes me. We did appeal our taxes in 2010 (we purchased in 2009) as the value was raised to more than what we had paid (which they aren’t allowed to do); they had at that time changed the quality code from average to average plus. When I inquired as to how they determined the quality grade had “improved” despite there having been no renovations made, I was informed by the office personnel that they LOOK AT PHOTOS ON MLS/FMLS and raise values BASED ON PHOTOS!!!
Now I don’t know about you, but if I were selling a car, I wouldn’t advertise it with a picture of the side with the dent! Come on! Yes, we appealed, and YES, they wanted to COME INSIDE to see the “quality”. My husband happily pulled back all the rugs to show that photos on the MLS are NOT accurate ways to determine what state a home is in!! ****update**** For the heck of it, I just googled my address, and sure enough, Zillow still has the sales listing from 2009 (on which the increase in quality code first time around was based). I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at the assessor’s doesn’t have the job of looking up every single address just to find photos of staged homes for sale~~~probably raised our quality code again based on 3 yr old pics.
Im new to all this mess. It says my previous year value 100% fair market value was 205,400 and now it’s 238,600. Obviously it increased and my 40% assessed value was 82,160 now 95,400.
I understand no one really knows how they got theses numbers but how are they supposed I get the correct numbers and what does it all mean? What is the difference between 100% FMV and 40% assessed value?
The City of Decatur is not involved in anyway in the property appraisal process.We currently have no information as to why the land value vs. buildng values have changed. We have only received composite aggregate digest information which indicates an overall increase in real property of about 2% – all in new value. We have calls in to the DeKalb County Tax Assessor’s Office to see what information can be provided and will pass that along as soon as possible.
Thank you Peggy!
Thank you pointing this out Peggy – I was going to say the same thing. Our CoD admin is not responsible for the assessments.
BUT, CoD does piggyback off of the Dekalb assessment, and this obvious snafu will play havoc with our city’s budget. Especially if people decide not to pay while they protest.
Is it time to get our own assessor in CoD. Dekalb county continues to amaze me with their incompetence.
Peggy actually provided me with a pretty detailed history and step-by-step process with what would have to happen in order for COD to bring the assessor back in-house after the whole mix up last year. I’m thinking about posting it in the next day or two, depending on how all of this plays out.
DM, regardless of how this plays out, please post the info when you get a chance. Given everyone’s level of dissatisfaction with Dekalb Co. governance, I would like to more about the costs and benefits of such a move.
Alrighty.
Can you also include/ask how much and to whom we pay for the current service.
for example Fulton:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-government/under-altered-bill-personal-1393845.html
Thanks, Peggy! Clearly a lot of people are upset and frustrated – and dealing with the county certainly rarely improves that. If there is any way COD can act as our collective advocate to figure this mess out and determine best way for everyone to proceed, it would be much appreciated. If bills are going to be reissued, great. If not, does every person need to appeal their value? Thanks again.
By switching to Firefox I was finally able to get into the site (thanks again smalltowngal).
I live on Woodlawn and here’s my breakdown:
Last year Land was 118K and Building was 263K (both of these have been stable for years)
This year Land was 274K and Building was 97K
In total, property decreased in value 10K
So are we all just supposed to click the Appeal button???
Same thing here so I pushed the button!
As of 1:50 PM Thursday, I am still seeing a server error on the Dekalb County website when I click on my property address:
“Server Error
500 – Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.”
Could there be an I.T. issue…? …Bueller…?… Bueller?
(I wonder if they’ve tried switching it off and on again?)
try this link: http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/PropertyAppraisal/realSearch.asp
it worked for me a few minutes ago
We need to go to the polls and VOTE OUT ALL OF THE INCUMBENTS!
I have two properties – one is my backyard. It got tripled in value, while the house dropped by 1/2. Something is terribly wrong….
My entire Lenox park condo complex had our total assessment jump by a about 20% – the three bedrooms went from 184k to 223k. Nothing really changed this year, so I am rather confused. Oh and there is no difference between the value for units that have or have not been renovated. Just a blanket increase. It is apparently an increase in land. I wish I had known to look at this previously. Apparently until last year the land value had been about 60k, and the building about 140k. Then last year it changed to land at 89k and building at 95k. Then this year they are claiming the land at 130k and the building at 93k. How does unchanged land increase in value more than double in two years?
do you mean Lenox place? I’ve heard of a Lenox park, but I thought it was in Brookhaven?
Report from conversation with tax assessor’s office today. I asked why the extreme variations in assessments in our subdivision. Here’s why:
1) System is flawed. New system (same one other metro counties using) to be installed for next year.
2) Assessments are based on combination of house features/condition and comparable sales. I thought they use comps from entire subdivision. NOT TRUE. There are apparently a number of smaller “land use areas” within the subdivision, so the comps vary. For example, he gave me three comps for my house (on Walker). I inquired about a property on North Carter. There were TWO DIFFERENT comps for that house. This accounts for much of the variability. He said that they will fix that next year. He was not aware that we are a single subdivision.
3) Land value (the lot only) needs to be corrected. For example: most lots on North Carter are valued around $50K; lots on Walker at $109K. He said there is no reason for this based on lot size.
4) County has inaccurate information about house features and condition. For example, the house I inquired about on North Carter: the county records state that it has no AC and one bath. The house does have central AC and two baths. This affects valuation. The county also thinks my house has a fireplace. Not.
I am not in City of Decatur; just outside city limits.
And they are going to correct this all by doing?????
I too was given a lot of lip service with no answers
OK, this is good to know–but if they’re already aware that things are FUBAR, are they just going to wait until next year to straighten things out and in the meantime await a flood of assessment appeals? You’d think it’d make a lot more sense to announce that they’ll identify the obvious causes of problems ASAP and issue revised assessments pronto, and until then, people should disregard the current assessments.
Unfortunately, the person I spoke with at the tax assessor’s office said that the new system will not be in place until next year. He did not want to be identified. He said the only recourse this year is to appeal. I think they may have misjudged the volume of public protest and will regret it.
I’ll just bet he didn’t want to be identified. I’m surprised they even answered the phones today. I have a mental image of people hiding under their desks with the phones unplugged.
Can’t wait for the melodramatic TV news reports about the server crashing (they’ll speak of it in tones that would indicate something physically crashed into something else).
Maybe we should pick one of those meet-n-greets for Burrell Ellis and mob it.
Frankly, this sounds like a lot of nonsense. All of these issues might explain why one house was inaccurately assessed as against other houses nearby in a particular year.
But none of these issues would explain the drastic variation from last year to this year for apparently dozens or hundreds (thousands?) of homes, or why some homes have gone up 20-50% while others have dropped by the same amount on the same street and even next door to one another.
2 homes here – one in Greater Decatur – 30033 and the other in CoD – 30030
30033 Home
2012 difference in land value = +$10,100
2012 difference in building value = -$1,100
30030 Home
2012 difference in land value = +$1,800
2012 difference in building value = -$300
Land value is definitely being changed for some reason. Not sure how this is fair or accurate. And what this might foretell.
In case you’re wondering…..
You have 45 days to appeal your DeKalb County Assessment. City of Decatur uses the DeKalb Assessment to calculate your city taxes.
You can appeal by Arbitration (not recommended by the Spaceman) or through the Board of Equalization. if accepted you will get a “30 Day letter” with your new value and the opportunity to appeal the NEW value for 30 days. If not accepted, your appeal is recieved by the Board of Equalization…
1. A hearing is set and written notice is sent to the taxpayer and assessor.
2. A hearing is typically scheduled 20-30 days from the date of notice to both parties.
3. The home owner (with or without representation) prepares a thorough caseand presents it to the citizen board. The tax assessor will also prepare a case.
4. The Board of Assessors will notify both parties of the results by mail.
Why not Arbitration? The losing party has to pay for all fees in arbitration and if you lose you pick up the bill. The Board of Equalization is a citizen Board that hears the case and the fees are nominal.
Couple of important facts….
1. Assessments should be values AS OF JAN 1, 2012. If your home is a new construction hoome and was not complete on Jan 1, you might want to consider it.
2. Your property taxes must be up to date to file an appeal.
3. Property owners who were NOT owners on Jan 1 can now file appeals on their own behalf without permission of the previous owner (this is new in 2012).
4. Since values are as of Jan 1, 2012 any sales comps must be used from 2011, not after Jan 1, 2012 to be considered.
Hope this helps. Spaceman saw a huge reduction so he will not be challenging!
OK, I just talked to a “reliable source” and I can tell you all what happened. Sometime after the appraisals were done, but before notices were sent or the online database was updated, the system was hacked. A malicious virus used a random number generator to jumble up all the land and building values. So far, the IT folks have been able to trace the attack back to a guy named “Nick”. It appears that he might be associated with some kind of local “blog” and that he used this nefarious trick to drive up traffic to his site. If this is true, I certainly owe Nick a beer since our taxes will be much lower than expected this year!
Right. If only a one-day traffic hike was worth all that time and energy. Actually the world might be a much scarier place…
But just for that J_T, my next trick is I’m going to be to let a dozen 4 year-olds loose into Trackside on a Saturday night, all asking “Have you seen my Daddy? His name is Jeff.”
OK, that would actually be pretty damn funny. Just FYI, there’s a much better chance that I’ll be there on any given Friday or Monday night than Saturday. Also, you might want to Shepardize the Cruelty to Children statute to make sure that you wouldn’t be running afoul of the law just by letting them in there 😉
Such a sly fellow you are!
OK, everybody who still has a sense of humor about this, raise your hand. I’ll assume that means your tax bill is going down, and I’ll invite you to my first semi-annual Tax Bill Party next winter.
J_T, quit clowning and look up the state statute on property taxes and see if the county has limits on how much assessed values can be raised from year to year. Someone told me there may be statutory limits but couldn’t remember …. thank you 🙂
I live near the Oakhurst “Castle”. My house is about the same age as that house. I have a double lot. That house has a triple. They are both 3/2s with one outbuilding on corner lots, but that house has 1,000 more square feet than this one. Yet the building value on that house is $120,000 LESS than mine. The overall assessments are less than $1000 apart.
My house is one of four semi- identical houses in a sorta row (a fifth house burned years ago and has been replaced). One of the four has an upstairs addition that added about 1200 sqft. That one has slightly higher assessed value than mine- $20k. The other two houses, one of which is virtually identical in terms of square feet has a building assessment that is half of mine. The fourth house, which is listed with the same condition code as mine, but with 600 square feet more and an additional bathroom has building value at $135,000 LESS than mine.
Sorry, Nellie, but I’m going to need at least a $5,000 retainer to begin researching any of this. We are the lucky ones with a 33% reduction in appraised value so I’ll need those funds to cover the increased tax burden if the County corrects everyone’s bill 😉
“The term “pro bono” comes from the Latin phrase pro bono publico, which means: for the public good. Since its early days, the legal profession has felt a responsibility to do something for the public good, which often takes the form of pro bono work, or providing legal services without a fee. “
Silly Nellie, I know what pro bono means. But what’s the term that means “for the public good but directly contrary to one’s own selfish motives because one doesn’t want to get kicked out of one’s own domicile because he made the county reassess his own house to a more correct higher value”?
Don’t worry, I’m sure some other DM legal types will weigh in on this. For now, I’m holding out to see if DeKalb will admit the ridiculousness and fix it on their own after the raucous public outcry.
Re “I’m holding out to see whether DeKalb will admit the ridiculousness and fix it on their own after the raucous public outcry”: How long have you lived in DeKalb?
I know. I couldn’t even type that with a straight face 😉
I can’t even continue picking on you because this statement:
“For now, I’m holding out to see if DeKalb will admit the ridiculousness and fix it on their own after the raucous public outcry”
made me cough and choke and stutter.
Our land value went from 85,000 to 236,000, which appears to be the same land value as everyone on our little street (Mimosa Place, Winnona Park). Our building value went from $148,000 to $248,400, although we haven’t done anything on the house visible from the outside.
J-T – you had me for most of your post. I was sighing with relief until your got to the “Nick” and “blog” part.
Correction: I was sighing with relief until I got to the “Nick” and “blog” part.
Ok, I’ve lived in OakhurstGA 15 years in the same 2br 1 bath NO dining room on .23 acre. Mine went up $36000. Land value quadrupled to $192000ish and house value dropped in half, for a total of $239900. This is for a house I paid $103000 for when the crack distribution site was my corner, that has never had the mystery 3rd bedroom the appraisal shows. I’ve appealed before, because of the rapid Oakhurst acceleration, since this house is in no way comparable to the renos and new builds. This crap will either force me out or force me to take up drug deals to pay my taxes. Or maybe the appraisers are using the products themselves? How do teachers, single folks, and retirees etc survive this? So sad, and I doubt I could actually get this price on the market, even if I am 2 blocks from the taj mahal school. I love decatur but may be forced to go.
You need to appeal.
If they screw something up as important as this so royally, how do we know anything else they do is accurate?
Water/Sewer bills? Do they just make it up?
Election results? They just miss a few numbers or lose a few votes here and there.
Really makes you question and lose faith in the government. And I’m a big old liberal.
There’s a world of difference between being liberal politically and being liberal with accounting, assessments, and the facts. 🙂
Ok, I’ve lived in OakhurstGA 15 years in the same 2br 1 bath NO dining room on .23 acre. Mine went up $36000. Land value quadrupled to $192000ish and house value dropped in half, for a total of $239900. This is for a house I paid $103000 for when the crack distribution site was my corner, that has never had the mystery 3rd bedroom the appraisal shows. I’ve appealed before, because of the rapid Oakhurst acceleration, since this house is in no way comparable to the renos and new builds. This will either force me out or force me to take up drug deals to pay my taxes. Or maybe the appraisers are using the products themselves? How do teachers, single folks, and retirees etc survive this? So sad, and I doubt I could actually get this price on the market, even if I am 2 blocks from the taj mahal school. I love decatur but may be forced to go.
Ok, I’ve lived in Oakhurst 15 years in the same 2br 1 bath NO dining room on .23 acre. Mine went up $36000. Land value quadrupled to $192000ish and house value dropped in half, for a total of $239900. This is for a house I paid $103000 for when the crack distribution site was my corner, that has never had the mystery 3rd bedroom the appraisal shows. I’ve appealed before, because of the rapid Oakhurst acceleration, since this house is in no way comparable to the renos and new builds. This will either force me out or force me to take up drug deals to pay my taxes. Or maybe the appraisers are using the products themselves? How do teachers, single folks, and retirees etc survive this? So sad, and I doubt I could actually get this price on the market, even if I am 2 blocks from the taj mahal school. I love decatur but may be forced to go.
I live in COD. My assessed land value increased by 250%, building value decreased by 72%, overall assessed value decreased by 12%. Of the total assessed value, 3/4 is land. I called the Dekalb Residential Property Help Desk this afternoon and was referred to the appraisal person for my property address. She told me that their office only cares about total assessed value and that the new computer system they are using (for the first time) this year allocated the land and building values this way. She agreed that it makes no sense. She said that they will be changing to yet another new computer system for next year’s assessments. If I were to appeal, she told me that she could reduce the land value but would have to increase the building value to keep the total assessed value the same. I asked if the County was going to send out corrected assessments and she said not as far as she knows, not up to her, but people could contact the Deputy Director, Donna Roser. I look forward to hearing what the City finds out from the County on this matter.
Thanks.
My neighbors on each side of me have larger houses and larger land plots. One is 2x the size in sq. footage and land. Both have total assessed value less than ours?? Should I appeal???
If you bought your house in the last couple years and your assessment is below what you paid, they will probably site your recent sale and not change it, but it might not be a bad idea to appeal anyway. If you are a recent sale and you are assessed higher than what you paid or higher than what permitted improvements you have added , appeal and ask to have it lowered. If you have been in the house for a while and you are high compared to similar houses around you, definitely appeal.
They aren’t gonna change it if you don’t ask. just try and make your case logical and easy to follow.
good luck!
What if I like the current appraisal, do not want to appeal, and want to lock it in for the next three to five years before the new system kicks in with what will undoubtedly be an increase in assessed value? If I were to agree not to appeal the property value over the next 3-5 yrs, would Dekalb County keep the appraised value constant?
I wouldn’t assume anything. Not that I have any special insights. Others may. Certainly I wouldn’t appeal if my total property assessment were not a substantial increase. I’ve never had a bad outcome with appealing but this seems to be a whole new ball game.
Interesting,
My land value and building value have def changed, for the first time in 8+ yrs…
prev land value – 89300 prev building value – 108,100
new land value – 171700 new building value – 33,100
land value up +82400 building value down -75000
total change, about 4% up to 204800 from 197400
now my question is… is this the information City of Decatur used for installment one that I paid recently? and if so, and if this current information from Dekalb County is an error, is City of Decatur cutting everyone a break of the difference on installment 2?
the cynic in me still thinks that this isn’t an error, that it’s dekalb’s way of preventing people from paying lower taxes due to appeals saying their building value is too much.
Apologies for my posting “stutter”
We’re in Dunwoody (Dekalb), not Decatur, but it’s definitely happening county-wide. We successfully appealed last year, bringing our valuation from $323k down to $301k. We then refinanced last fall, and the house appraised for $261k. Now Dekalb is saying the house is worth $332k. I don’t see how it’s possible the property is worth that. I’ve already filed an appeal online.
We’re in unincorporated Dekalb. Our land value more than doubled. Building value dropped by 1/3. Overall value prior to this has been consistent for years.
Got a call earlier this evening (from a live person) inviting me to vote for Burrell Ellis as he seeks re-election. I told her if he gets this mess straightened out forthwith, I will consider voting for him, and went on to unload my grievance (in the most polite terms, since she personally has nothing to do with it) about what I consider to be a complete debacle in residential property tax appraisals. She was very nice and assured me Mr. Ellis will call me back. I told her I would prefer that he spend his time making sure this gets fixed immediately, including an official statement about what happened and when/how it will be fixed. She offered me this phone number as a way to reach him directly: (404) 254-0650.
Way to go! I had a campaigner come to my door and a campaign call both tonight and it never occurred to me to use them to address this issue.
Surely this is somehow the result of Wal-Mart and/or Family Dollar coming to the area.
Just spit diet Coke on my keyboard! Love this comment! Perhaps the county is trying to raise values to discourage such *discount* stores!
See we told all of you that BAD things would happen if we allowed those types of stores in our vicinity.
Now we’ll start seeing human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!!
Lookout for the Stay-puft marshmallow man to crush the courthouse any time now.
(Seriously, this is FUBAR is its purest form. The sheer incompetence is mind-boggling.)
I live in Scottdale. My assessment last year was way too high and this year I was shocked to see something much more in line with reality (I had been ready to appeal, but don’t need to now). The only frustration was learning from my neighbor that his assessment is noticeably lower than mine and he’s got a finished basement. I don’t even have a basement. Not right.
David – I also refinished my basement in 2011 – with permits pulled and everything on the up-and-up. My assessment went down by almost 10%.
I looked up my history and the assessment never changed over the past 4 years, and this year went down. Not a good indicator of the Atlanta real estate market, but I can’t complain.
Except that I know my good city will feel the pain as their revenue line in their budget can’t possibly be correct. You can’t plan a city budget with uncertainty like this.
I just looked online at the tax rates for eight houses on my street. There seems to be some inaccuracies on square footage reported to the county (basements say N/A) and when it’s accurate there is still unfairness in what is being charged. I mean, I probably paid $1000 more in taxes last year than I should have (my fault for not appealing in time). While I feel better about this year’s bill, I still don’t understand why houses that would easily sell more than mine are being appraised at $50,000 less. This whole process stinks. I love owning a house, but always hated the lack of control I have in this.
I live in unincorporated Dekalb (Northlake area) and my home assessed at a 69% increase. Of the 19 homes on my street that were not foreclosures, they all assessed a 39% increase or higher (Averaged out to 48% increase). So ticked off right now! I have compiled this information and will share with each of my neighbors this weekend to stoke the outrage and to get ’em moving.
Another question from the new guy… do reassessments happen every year? There are a lot of stories above about people appealing recently but having to do it again. This sounds like a big waste of money if they’re reassessing every year. Also, if they KNOW there’s a problem and they’re going to another system next year, why don’t they just go back and use last year’s assessment and get it right next year? Why send out something you know is wrong? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
I’m far from being a new guy, but have some of the same questions. My assessed value has increased 5 times since 2000, and I’ve never known if not getting a value change meant I wasn’t assessed that year or that the value just didn’t change. BTW, the changes have not been unreasonable, given what I could observe around me with respect to comps. Until this year, which seems to represent some kind of lunacy.
It has come to my attention that I owe the DM Dungeon Master an apology for suggesting that he had anything to do with The Great DeKalb Property Appraisal Catastrophe. It was indeed a hack job, but the link to a guy named Nick was a clever red herring planted by the real culprit.
The forensic IT folks just called to inform me that this whole mess was created by a political activist known only as “Bobby”. He does not appear to have a “blog” but rather a one-issue crusade to vote down the newest T-Splost. And it appears to be working. Overnight polling suggests that public sentiment to entrust any additional tax dollars to DeKalb County has plummetted drastically. Only 0.02% of the electorate is now in favor of the tax initiative [the fraction of a percent in favor of it being either an anomaly or simply the result of school board members or county commissioners being polled].
Apologies also to STG. When is that party?
I sat outside at Steinbeck’s last night, and from the two tables that were close enough to hear snippets of their conversations, assessments seemed to be the talk of the town! Even one regular who stopped by to say hello, brought up the topic immediately.
So one day after the fiasco started and still no word from anyone in DeKalb County government.
The County admits error with respect to some of the tax assessments. I live on Kirk Crossing and our entire street received the outrageous notices. A few of us were able to reach Joyce Lackey (the appraiser for our street) and Bryan Jennings (her supervisor). We were informed that there was an error and that we will receive revised assessments later this month. Not sure what other streets were affected. Likely Candler Oaks Drive and parts of Kirk Road near the Seminary were also affected.
Hopefully there will be an admission of error on Avery Street as well — where my house is now apparently worth $360,000 more than last year.
SELL!
There wont be an admission of error unless your contact them about it. I wouldn’t count of them doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.
Our assessment reflected the same thing as reported by other people–a 48% increase in assessed value, but only on the value of the land–the building value didn’t change.
tldr – so I am guessing everyone is excited their appraisals went down this year due to the economy?
I’m in unincorporated DeKalb, just east of Avondale, outside the city limits. My assessment dropped $87K, from $124K to $48K… Should I appeal to have it raised? That’s certainly not right…
Absolutely you should appeal. If you pay more in taxes, the rest of us will pay less.
Yes! Somebody needs to pay my fair share of taxes and it might as well be you!
DawgFan and I had pretty much the same thought at the same time? That scares me more than anything else in this thread.
Your journey to the dark side is almost complete!
My neighbor has the exact same lot size and we had the same lot value last year – their lot value when up just under $40k and mine went up almost $90k.
Appraisals for the DeKalb CEO and BOC:
Burrell Ellis: 2011 was $193,800 and now 2012 is $123,300
Elaine Boyer: 2011 was $244,320 and now 2012 is $204,800
Jeff Rader: 2011 was $302,500 and now 2012 is $273,000
Larry Johnson: 2011 was $91,920 and now 2012 is $58,800
Sharon Barnes Sutton: 2011 was $206,520 and now 2012 is $117,400
Lee May: ??? bankruptcy and foreclosure, does not own a home
Kathie Gannon: 2011 was $529,800 and now 2012 is $577,300
Stan Watson: 2011 was $177,360 and now 2012 is $135,100
It looks like only Kathie Gannon feels your pain (and only a little bit at that).
This is as hard to swallow as it was when we saw our assessment was going up by $270,000. Despicable!
But I am sure they will all plead innocent because the Tax Assessor is a completely different department, not handled at all by the CEO or BOC! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Right? They had nothing at all to do with it.
You can bet that no BOC homes were going to get hit with six-figure increases, even though Boyer lives in Smoke Rise and Rader and Gannon live in Decatur.
I will forward this information on to the local news media because the least these elected officials deserve is the public knowing how they were protected from tax increases.
These inflated values are what allowed Ellis to proclaim an only six percent drop in the tax digest, even though the AJC’s story earlier this year showed the average home in DeKalb was overvalued by the county by ten percent. I don’t think anyone south of Memorial Drive saw an increase this year. The only way DeKalb officials can keep their gravy train going is by soaking north DeKalb homeowners. Dunwoody and Decatur got hit. This incident will encourage Brookhaven residents to vote to incorporate. And then residents of Toco Hills, Oak Grove, Sagamore, Medlock Park, and Druid Hills will be the only poor suckers left.
So do you think that Kathie Gannon drew the short straw? Or did they do an eenie meenie minie moe sort of thing to pick the token BOC increased appraisal?
On a related note, how the hell does Sharon Barnes Sutton even own a damn home after losing one to foreclosure just two years ago, not to even mention her bad check warrants?!?
http://www.decaturmetro.com/tag/sharon-barnes-sutton/
Haha. Yeah, who knows what silly games these folks play behind closed doors. However they came to choose Kathie, I’m sure they did it while eating a well-catered meal from a county vendor!
I guess Sharon BS can afford to buy a home the same way she can afford to tool around town in her dark blue BMW: that high-payin’ commish salary!