New York Suburb Cracks Down on Un-licensed Contractors

The Rockland Office of Consumer Protection has written more unlicensed home-improvement contractor citations since May than in all of last year, reports The Journal News. The heightened enforcement began after the April murder of Mary Nagle, a woman who police said was killed by a man who was employed by an unlicensed contractor. The crime sparked county residents to push for a more watchful eye on unlicensed workers, and as a result, consumer protection has issued 30 misdemeanor appearance tickets and 23 violation notices to contractors accused of working without a license. The paper also reports that applications for county home-improvement licenses have increased as well. Over 300 applications have already been filed; yet last year, there were only 325 applications for the whole year.