My last couple of tax assessments from St. Mary's county have shown my home value decreasing. I thought the general trend for this area was a upswing in home value?
Residential assessments have been generally flat recently. Individually, decreasing assessments are a good thing. It means your property tax bill won't be as much as before.
Get an appraisal. A good appraiser doesn't depend on the tax bill which they understand is more political than useful for sales valuation.It does keep your tax bill lower, but has the reverse effect if you're trying to re-fi or take out a home equity line of credit.