FREEHOLD, NJ – Monmouth County business owners can be part of a teleconference call at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 where they can find out about the various programs, support services and opportunities available to them as they recover from Super storm Sandy.
“Monmouth County’s businesses are working hard to get back in action after Sandy,” Freeholder Deputy Director Thomas A. Arnone said. “This conference call will provide business leaders with critical information and updates about resources that can and will assist them with their recovery efforts.”
The hour-long Business Rebuilding Call is being presented by the county’s division of Economic Development and will include information about the federal and state business disaster relief programs, tax assessment basics for commercial properties and more.
To access the Business Rebuilding Call on Monday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m., dial 559-726-1300; access code is # 147878.
For questions or assistance, please contact Monmouth County Division of Economic Development at 732-431-7470 or [email protected].
“Businesses and home owners who have had losses due to Super storm Sandy, must register with FEMA by Dec. 31, 2012 to be eligible for any federal assistance,” Arnone said. “This is the first step our businesses must take on this road to recovery.”
After registering with FEMA, business owners can visit the local Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) in Monmouth County for more information. The locations are:
Belmar Municipal Building, 601 Main St., Belmar, NJ 07719
Henry Hudson Trail Activity Center, 945 Hwy 36, Leonardo, NJ 07737 (Atlantic Highlands/ Middletown border)
Union Beach Municipal Building, 650 Poole Ave., Union Beach, NJ 07735
Donations Arrive at Salvation Army Warehouse in Trenton En Route to Shore Areas
Trenton, NJ, Nov 11 – Two packed trucks—loaded with donations for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy— arrived in Trenton today and were unloaded by a group of volunteers, including Congressman Chris Smith (Robbinsville, NJ), whose district was pummeled by the hurricane.
“This is a wonderful act of goodwill and charity on the part of many who want to help New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy,” Smith said. “It is truly heart-felt. On behalf of the people of the Fourth Congressional District and all the hard hits areas of New Jersey, I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. LaTourette of Ohio, the Chesterbrook Elementary School, Gentle Giant Moving Company and the American Trucking Association and all those who made contributions for collecting and shipping these donations to New Jersey. I am extremely appreciative to Maj. Phil Davis of the Salvation Army and his workers who helped unload the trucks and will help make these items available to the victims of Sandy.” Smith, who represents Trenton as well as large Jersey Shore areas in Monmouth and Ocean counties, helped unload two trucks alongside the drivers, Salvation Army workers and other volunteers at the Salvation Army’s warehouse on Enterprise Avenue in Trenton.
U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette (OH-14), who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, and his wife Jennifer and their two children, helped coordinate the effort through their school, sending a total of three trucks. Cong. LaTourette’s Washington office is down the hall from Cong. Smith’s office. After viewing some of the carnage at the Jersey Shore, they decided to offer to collect goods for the victims.
The first truck arrived Wednesday night at a Monmouth County staging area in Lincroft, N.J. Drivers braved the heavy snowfall that totaled over a foot of snow in some areas of Smith’s district from the powerful Nor’easter that followed a week after Hurricane Sandy. The snow storm hampered hurricane relief efforts, including causing a power outage at the Lincroft site that left the drivers out in the cold to sleep overnight in a Lincroft parking lot. The following morning, the drivers were assisted by hard-working county employees from the parks and recreation departments to unload the donations.
The Salvation Army, which runs a relief operation in Monmouth County, sorts through donated items at its Trenton warehouse for redistribution at the Jersey Shore. Donations included bottled water, blankets, winter coats and cleaning supplies (such as new brooms, mops and cleaning chemicals) and other goods.
Just 200 feet from where the guts of their homes are piled a story high and a block wide, the residents of Highlands took a break from their clean up today and came together in Huddy Park to enjoy the gorgeous weather, good food and music and to smile, laugh, cry, and look forward to rebuilding their community.
HPB, a 501 c-3, has established a fund, Hope for Highlands to accept tax deductable contributions to support the community’s recovery from Hurricane Sandy. $6,672 was raised today at the event.
Tax deductable contributions to Hope for Highlands can be mailed to PO Box 375, Highlands, NJ 07732. For additional information about the fund, call 732-291-4713.
FEMA Approves 5 Additional Days of Full Reimbursement for Emergency Power Restoration and Transportation Assistance in Hard Hit New Jersey Communities
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie announced yesterday that President Barack Obama has approved a 5-day extension of the federal cost share for Hurricane Sandy, from 75 percent to 100 percent for emergency power restoration and emergency public transportation assistance, including direct federal assistance, for those areas of New Jersey within counties designated for public assistance.
“I want to thank the federal government for the continued responsiveness to the needs of New Jersey as recovery efforts continue – particularly this extension which recognizes the additional challenges posed by the winter nor’easter and our ability to make full and proper use of the initial 100 percent reimbursement approved by the President on November 1st,” said Governor Christie. “As we continue to make progress after each of those storms to restore power and get people’s lives back to normal as much as we can, this assistance will remain critical to our recovery and clean-up efforts.”
The previously approved increase of reimbursement authority will now continue through November 14th, rather than expire yesterday as previously schedule. This increased level of federal assistance program pertains to those areas of New Jersey that were previously declared a federal disaster area, including Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union counties. Other forms of Category B assistance remain at a 75% cost share, consistent with the initial approval of assistance.
More information on the original November 1st approval of 100% cost share for these expenses can be found here.
Due to the major property damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, many are faced with value assessments that are no longer accurate. Even though this may not affect you directly, please feel free to pass this information along to friends, families, and neighbors that may find this useful.
Under current State law, property value is assessed based on the condition of the lot and the buildings as of October 1st for the following tax year. In other words, the 2013 property tax bills are based on the value of the property as of October 1st, 2012
However, State law contains a provision which states that a property with a building or other structure that has been destroyed by a storm between October 1st and December 31st can have assessment reduced to reflect the depreciation in value for that property. The landowner must provide the assessor with notice prior to January 10, 2013. The assessor must then base the assessed value of the property according to its condition as of January 1, 2013.
Only 9 weeks remain to provide this notice to municipal assessors.
As for the November 1st property tax bill (fourth quarter 2012), a property taxpayer must pay that bill in full by November 10th to pay the fourth quarter bill. Also, a municipality may pass a resolution that establishes a zero percent interest rate for tax payments made after November 10th.
As someone who has witnessed the destruction of my hometown and the devastation Sandy wrecked upon the lives of so many people I care about, I really don’t care if the partnership that Governor Chris Christie forged with President Barack Obama contributed to Obama’s reelection.
As I embraced my dear friend while we were standing in the wreckage of what used to be her mother’s home while she was crying, “she’s going to die,” the last thing I cared about was politics.
For over a week I’ve witness my neighbors’ possessions be piled into a garbage transfer station that used to be a parking lot and then be loaded into trailers be be trucked away. Soon many of those neighbors will be living in trailers in a park while someone else decides when, how and if their homes can be rebuilt.
I won’t complain that I haven’t slept in my own bed and there is no power at my house. I still have a house. My friends don’t. My friend, the mayor, his wife and three young children are sleeping on cots in a gymnasium.
I could care less that Christie wept when Bruce Springsteen called him a friend. I care even less that Obama facilitated the friendship.
I am comforted that Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well. I am comforted that he assembled such a competent team to form his administration three years ago and that they work so well together.
I can’t imagine Jon Corzine, Richard Cody, Jim McGreevey, Christie Whitman, Jim Florio, Tom Kean or Brendan Byrne being as hands on or as competent as Christie has been in this crisis. I also can’t imagine Cory Booker doing the job that Christie has done or assembling as good a team to do it.
Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well. He’s witnessed far more of the devastation to New Jersey than I have. I’m pleased that for the last weeks he hasn’t cared about politics either.
Pundits on both sides of the aisle are saying that if not for Hurricane Sandy, Obama may not have been reelected. That could be true. But given Obama’s record, the state of the world and the economy, the election should not have been close heading into the last weekend in October.
Obama said he will be a better president as a result of the campaign. He said he heard those who opposed him and his policies. I hope that proves to be true. We’ll know soon enough.
I don’t think Chris Christie will be a better governor because he has Obama’s cell number. I think it is more likely that Obama will be a better president because he has Chrisite’s number.
