By Angeljean Chiaramida
SALISBURY — After an arson fire last month at a home in what was thought to be a mobile home park at 141 Beach Road, emergency personnel responding to the blaze called for an investigation, citing concerns with cleanliness.
However, according to Salisbury's chief assessor, Cheryl Gillespie, the trailers on the land behind Salisbury Inn do not meet the tax standards of being a mobile home park. Howard Wolpert, owner of the Salisbury Inn and the land and mobile homes behind the Inn, pays taxes on the land and the homes on it.
"It's legal as it is. It's not a mobile home park," Gillespie said. "With mobile home parks, their owners pay taxes on the land, but the mobile homes are exempt from property taxes. In lieu of taxes on those homes, a mobile home park owner would pay a $6 fee per month per mobile home to the Board of Health. That's $72 per year per mobile home. Howie Wolpert pays taxes on both the land and the homes on the land, all of which he owns, along with the Salisbury Inn."
Gillespie said Wolpert's tax bill is $15,934 on the area assessed at $1,616,000, which includes 32 units in the two motel buildings and 17 mobile homes and one cabin behind the inn. In 2004, the last time Gillespie visited the units for revaluation purposes, rents on the units were reported at roughly $700 per month per trailer.
The rental trailers on the site were there at least as far back as 1992, and no trailers have been added since, Gillespie said.
Town Manager Neil Harrington said earlier this week that no town officials are advocating that the site be designated a mobile home park.
Harrington said immediately after the fire that the town's primary concern was the state of the home that was set ablaze by a 15-year-old boy who lived there with his mother. Building Inspector Dave Lovering went down and condemned the home as being unfit for human habitation because of the destruction the fire caused and posted the notice.
Harrington said he heard the place was robbed after the posting. Then a few days after that, the town received an anonymous tip that someone had sneaked back in and had slept there.
"We didn't know if someone had gone in to camp out there for a night, or what the situation was," Harrington said. "But Dave went back down to discuss the issue with the manager of the place."
Harrington said there was some concern expressed by officials at the fire as to the general cleanliness around the exteriors of some of the mobile units. However, it is still undetermined if that is an issue concerning the site's overall management or if it is renter related. There have been no complaints to town officials from those who live in the park concerning problems there, he added.
The Board of Health has recently instituted a new bylaw that requires all town rental units be inspected annually by the health inspector.
Salisbury has hundreds of rental units, and originally the plan was to concentrate on rental units at the beach first, Harrington said. But recently it was decided to mail notices to all town rental unit owners, informing them of the inspection requirement.
The mobile homes at 141 Beach Road would fall under the annual rental unit inspection bylaw, and Wolpert ¬¬will be getting notification about the inspections soon, Harrington said.
Motels and hotels are already inspected annually by the health inspector, Harrington said.
