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EDITORIAL: Tax relief for recovery
The Legislature should reach fast conclusions about a proposed sales tax break on modular homes, especially to help reconstruction in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast counties.
Barbour has set a special session for noon Thursday, and he seeks a sales tax reduction on modular home materials from 7 percent to 3 percent.
The Coast needs up to 100,000 new residences to replace homes destroyed or irreparably damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Modular homes are partially assembled off-site, shipped and assembled on residential property. They are widely viewed as at least a partial and faster remedy in the home replacement market.
An earlier special session adjourned without passing the modular home tax reduction, with House of Representatives leaders saying the needed more time to fully analyze the proposal and its budget impact.
Ocean City exercising options for affordable housing
OCEAN CITY — A city councilman Tuesday said he is not satisfied with the resort's answer to affordable housing. The island has more than $8 billion in property, virtually none of which could be described as affordable to the average New Jersey resident. The Council on Affordable Housing has determined that Ocean City must provide about 32 affordable homes in the next 10 years and rehabilitate another 71 homes. The city is employing several options to meet its affordable-housing obligation. The city will pay another town — not yet identified — to provide about half of its obligation or as many as 13 homes. The city also is considering building new rentals for senior citizens and developmentally disabled residents, said Shirley Bishop, the former director of the Council on Affordable Housing who now works as a city consultant.
Contractor indicted in alleged scam
A Moreau builder has been indicted on five charges that accuse him of ripping off two customers in Washington County last year and this year -- thefts that nearly cost one of the victims his home, officials said.Thomas B. DuFore, 33, of Gansevoort Road faces felony counts of grand larceny and misappropriation of funds of a trust and a misdemeanor count of petit larceny.He operates DuFore Construction LLC.DuFore was arrested in July by State Police in Washington County after two customers came forward claiming he had taken tens of thousands of dollars from them and not completed the work, State Police Senior Investigator Thomas Aiken said.At one project in Argyle, DuFore is accused of taking $80,000 as partial payment to build a home but not completing the work. He also is accused of taking $52,700 to build an addition to a home in Kingsbury, but failing to complete the work there as well.
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