ALPINE — The 30,000-square-foot Stone Mansion has a ballroom, a "martini parlor," a 65-foot saltwater pool and a heated driveway. It has a tennis court and a wine tasting room. It has 19 bathrooms and gilded chandeliers.

What it's never had, in all the years since it went on the market in 2010, is a buyer.

The listing price was just reduced this month to $32.9 million from $36 million, still eye-popping, but a far cry from the $68 million first sought by its owner and developer, Richard Kurtz.

Kurtz blames not finding a buyer for the mansion on something besides the price tag: the property tax bill.

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The borough of Alpine "has overtaxed us excessively, and it's been hard to sell the house with an enormous tax on it. It's double than it should be, and the township refuses to do anything about it," Kurtz said. "And it hurts when selling it, because people don't want a $300,000 tax."

Property taxes for the home were once about $335,000, he said, but are now about $270,000. Public records show that the house is assessed at $35,500,000 with an annual tax bill of $276,545.

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In comparison, Kurtz said, a 35,000-square-foot house on Closter Dock Road, a short walk from his home, has taxes that are a little over $160,000. Records show that house is assessed at $20.9 million. It sold in April for $11 million.

In 2018, Alpine residents paid property taxes of $21,299 on a home with an average value of $2,748,278, the highest in Bergen County.

A homeowner's property tax bill includes taxes that go to the local municipality, the county and the school district. It is calculated by multiplying the assessed value of a home by the tax rate.

Mansion's history

Stone Mansion was built by Kurtz on part of the 60-acre Frick Estate that he purchased for $58 million in 2006. Also on the estate is the home of former Devils hockey star Ilya Kovalchuk, which went on the market last year for $18 million. The listing was removed in December.

Kurtz's 12-bedroom home, a half-hour drive from Manhattan, is on 6 acres and also features an indoor basketball court and a pool house with a full kitchen. It is on the only guard-gated street in the small Bergen County borough.

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Kurtz said he has appealed the borough's assessment of the Stone Mansion for the past eight years, but that Bergen County has not issued a ruling. His next stop is state Superior Court to fight the assessment, and he believes he will prevail and that the taxes will be "lowered substantially."

Kurtz lashed out at Mayor Paul Tomasko, saying he refuses to be a "gentleman" and help him in this situation.

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"The township is run by one person only and that's the mayor, Paul Tomasko," Kurtz said. "He sets the rules, the regulations, and he is basically like Hitler in the town."

Tomasko noted that Alpine has the lowest tax rate in Bergen County: 77.9 cents per $100 assessed value.

"Alpine has the lowest tax rate of all 70 towns in the county. I and the council, in other words, our other elected officials, do our best to keep it that way," Tomasko said. "Most of our residents appreciate that. Our low tax rate is one of the several reasons that people move here, and it tends to keep property values high."

Tomasko expressed little sympathy for Kurtz's situation.

"When someone decides to build a house so much larger than normal — 30,000 square feet — at a bad time in our economy, i.e. just before the Great Recession, his frustration is a product of his own creation," Tomasko said.

Construction on the home was completed in 2013, during the height of the foreclosure crisis that followed the 2008 crash.

Tomasko said he was shocked by Kurtz's attack on him.

"He may see fit to key on me, but I'm one of seven elected officials in this town," Tomasko said. "His decision to personalize this I was really surprised at."

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul