Committee recommends denying petition to reinstate omitted Tinkers Island lot on tax rolls

The Salem City Council Committee on Licenses and Legal Affairs voted 3-0 on Oct. 8 to recommend denial of a petition from Peter H. Valles asking the city to reassess and reinstate a former parcel on Tinkers Island s a taxed lot.

Valles requested the city place "former parcel number 47-0001-907, also known as Lot 7" back on the tax roll and to be the sole tax bill recipient for that parcel. He told the committee that the lot appears on dated maps and municipal records but is omitted from the city's current Patriot property list of the 14 leased lots on the island.

At the meeting, councilors and island residents described the island as city-owned and leased to the Tinkers Island Association under a 1969 agreement that allows 14 cottages or camps on the island. Residents and association representatives told the committee the island is not subdivided into individually owned lots; the city taxes individual structures for real estate and personal property tax while the association pays a single lease/license payment to the city.

Annie Harris, who identified herself as a Salem resident with a camp on Tinkers Island, said the association buys and manages interests when structures are lost or sold and that the city uses parcel numbers as a billing convenience, not as proof of legal subdivision. She said the association carries liability insurance naming the city and that members pay individual real estate and personal property taxes for their structures.

Valles told the committee he sold his interest in his camp around 2014 and that his structure was destroyed in a 1990s storm; he said he continued to receive tax bills until about 2010 and now seeks reassessment through the state process for omitted taxes (he referenced "state tax forms 62 and 63"). He also said a city municipal lien certificate in his petition showed a 20,000-square-foot assessment to him in earlier records.

Councilors told Valles the committee's authority is limited. The chair and Councilor Hapworth said the city owns the island and leases it to the Tinkers Island Association, which manages the permitted structures; the city taxes structures, not land subdivisions on the island. Councilors noted Valles had accepted payment previously in connection with the association's management of camps and that the association now lists 14 taxable structures.

Councilor Sillow moved to recommend denial of Valles's petition; Councilor Jerslow seconded. The committee vote to forward a recommendation to deny carried 3-0.

Committee members told Valles the committee's decision would be a recommendation to the full council; the committee did not direct staff to take additional administrative action at the meeting. The transcript records no filing of a new or separate lot by the committee, no directive to immediately reassess the Patriot property list, and no court action ordered by the city as part of the committee's recommendation.