Sandy Tax Gut Fuels Christie Rebuild Amid Cuomo Buyouts

Judy Aiello and her husband, Michael, settled 20 years ago at the New Jersey shore in a 1950s-era development with their backyard on a lagoon leading to Manahawkin Bay.

Five months after Hurricane Sandy sent a surge of water through the Beach Haven West neighborhood, about 35 miles north of Atlantic City, the Aiello house is more of a construction zone than a home. Damaged exterior siding lets in rain, and most of the floors are newly placed plywood, minus carpet or tile.