DeKalb Property Tax Data Flawed for Avondale

Avondale Estates Mayor Ed Rieker said DeKalb County's tax data for the city is flawed.

The errors were discovered after the Rieker and other city officials received the data from the county. When they crunched the numbers, they quickly realized that the only area where property values decreased was in Avondale's historic district. 

During the meeting, Rieker displayed an interactive property tax map.

“There's no way these props can be down," Rieker said, during a meeting called especially for this issue Tuesday night. "This doesn’t make sense to me or anyone else."

On Monday, DeKalb County tax officials agreed that the data has errors and will work to fix the numbers this week, according to Rieker. The news also came as DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis proposed a tax increase of 4.5 mills on Tuesday, the equivalent of $93 more a year for the average home in the county, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"[DeKalb] is absolutely on board. These numbers are in error," Rieker said. "They committed that Avondale would have new numbers by [Wednesday], close of business."

Just what does that mean for property owners in the historic district? Well, a property tax increase to be sure. For all other neighborhoods in Avondale, probably little to no change.

"Can you imagine the howl in this city if we just ignored this?" said Commissioner Michael Payne.

According to Clai Brown, city manger, Avondale's real property value dropped by $29.3 million, according to the county's calculations. If Avondale had not discovered the erroneous data, the city would have to cut approximately $280,000 from the city's current budget. 

Rieker said he expects values to be closer to 2010 levels.

Commissioner Terry Giager said, "If we sit idly and let property values dimish in the historic area, the financial impact to selling home would be outrageous and catastrophic."

When it came time for public comments, the first person to speak up was former Avondale Mayor John Lawson, who also sits on the DeKalb board of tax assessors.

"If you're looking for a villain in the whole process, look no further than ... [Georgia] legislature," Lawson said. "[Data] must include distress or foreclosure sales now. Why it came out with this odd configuration, that makes no sense to me. This has got to be fixed at the legislature level."