NEWBURGH – State Senator James Skoufis is questioning the sale of the Village of South Blooming Grove mayor’s home for more than 890% more than the property’s assessed full market value. The March 7, 2022 sale occurred a week before Mayor George Kalaj ran unopposed for another four-year term as mayor.
Skoufis (D-Cornwall) is asking State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the sale in order to “protect the electorate of South Blooming Grove” Skoufis said in his letter to the state’s top law enforcement official.
According to Skoufis, the home, located at 58 Fort Worth Place, is “a modest 2,026-square-foot raised ranch situated on 21 acres” and was sold to a newly-formed LLC known as Fort Worth Holdings for $4.6 million. Skoufis indicated that local donors supplied $7.5 million at the time of the closing “suggesting either that the property was immediately resold to another buyer, or that an additional $2.9 million went unaccounted for during the transfer.”
In addition to the questionable sale, Mayor Kalaj has failed to disclose his new residential address despite repeated requests, including one from Mid-Hudson News. Skoufis said “Mayor Kalaj has been largely unavailable for meetings with the public in recent months, signaling a possible violation of the NYS Public Officers Law requiring that individuals holding public office be residents of the municipality in which they serve.”
Skoufis said he is asking for the investigation for the purposes of transparency and that clarification of the mayor’s actual address is “long past due”.
