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<\/a> engineer Bruce Wells owns a single-family home on a quarter-acre at 40 Chase Road with a full-market value of $971,401, village records show. He pays close to $21,000 a year in county, village and school taxes.<\/p>\nA block away, John and Marjorie Beyersdorf own a two-bedroom condominium at 1 Christie Place that they bought in 2009 for $1.3 million. But the condo\u2019s \u201cfull market value \u201cI don\u2019t mind them paying a little less at Christie Place because you have to be over 55 to live there, and they don\u2019t have kids The discrepancy between what Wells and the Beyersdorfs pay in taxes sheds light on one of the state\u2019s biggest property-tax breaks \u2014 one available in 29 of the Lower Hudson Valley\u2019s 36 cities and towns, a Tax Watch analysis by The Journal News found. As a result, condo assessments in those communities are anywhere from 25 percent to 70 percent of the properties\u2019 actual market value.<\/p>\n As the debate over the fairest method of taxation continues, two more municipalities, Mamaroneck and Scarsdale, are considering changing their rules to level the playing field between condos and single-family homes.<\/p>\n The tax break is well known to condo owners, and to builders who have found a growing market for such units in an area where homeowners increasingly are squeezed by high property taxes.<\/p>\n Condo owners have title to their units, owning\u00a0 the interiors of their apartments and a fraction of the development\u2019s land and common areas. Unlike co-operative apartments, in which owners buy shares READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n SOURCE: LOHUD.COM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IN THE NEWS: To best understand the substantial property-tax breaks granted condominium owners in New York, consider two homes in downtown Scarsdale, both worth about $1 million. Software engineer Bruce Wells owns a single-family home on a quarter-acre at … Continue reading <\/a>\u201d on which taxes are levied is just $362,372. The Beyersdorfs\u2019 2012 tax bill came to about $7,600 \u2014 about one-third of what Wells paid.<\/p>\n<\/a> for the schools,\u201d Wells said. \u201cBut paying one-third of what I pay is beyond the pale.\u201d<\/p>\nCondos’ popularity<\/h3>\n
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<\/a> in a corporation, condo owners get a deed to their property and are taxed individually by municipalities.<\/p>\n