Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tax Free Property?

The picture below shows the parcel formerly known as 100 Beaver Road outlined in blue.  It is two separate pieces, although both are part of the same tax ID number.


The main piece is shaded below.  It is approximately 143 acres.  


The landlocked piece is shaded below.  It is approximately 6.91 acres.


What is astonishing is that the tax bill for 100 Beaver Road shows a total of only 142.78 acres!  That's the acreage of the main piece only and does not include the landlocked piece.


Check out last year's land assessment for 100 Beaver Road below.  Approximately $1.57 Million for 142.78 acres. Surprisingly, $1.57 Million is what the appraisal came in for only about 32 acres of this land ($1.5 Million for the 25-acre site and $70,000 for the 6.91-acre site).  Looks like this land has been grossly underassessed for quite some time!   


Wouldn't it be nice if the Town Assessor gave us all a big property tax break by underassessing our homes, or better yet, excluding land from the assessment all together?  Perhaps different standards are used if the land owner is a wealthy developer?