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.