The ongoing slump in the real estate market continues to plague the building materials industry in New Jersey. It was recently reported that pending sales of New Jersey homes dropped by the greatest margin since February 2009 – when the U.S. economy shed more than 726,000 jobs.

While this is an alarming statistic for my colleagues with the New Jersey Building Materials Dealers Association (NJBMDA), I was pleased to learn that our state Legislature in Trenton is equally concerned about how this recession is ravaging our state's building industry.

Through the steady urging of the NJBMDA, of which I am President, and other active trade organizations in New Jersey, our state Legislature recently passed a $100 million program that would give homebuyers a tax credit on their home purchase for 5 percent of the price they paid or $15,000, whichever is less.

Gov. Chris Christie recently said he can punt a football into Mendham Township from his home in the Borough.

Mendham Township Mayor Richard Krieg says ultimately the Mendhams need to come back together.

While these two leaders come from two different perspectives, they both acknowledge that the current system is expensive and redundant.

In this time of enormous economic stress, we need to work toward combining administrations throughout the state's 566 municipalities.

Unless you're a building professional or in a related field, chances are you have no idea about a federal law enacted April 22. In all probability, if your home was built before 1978, the law just further reduced the value of your home.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted The Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule to protect individuals from lead, a component of paint that was used in more than 38 million homes until it was banned for residential use in 1978.

The initial intentions of the agency were admirable - to inform the public of the issue and to protect those most vulnerable to lead exposure, specifically children under age 6 and those still in the womb.

Fix New Jersey's fiscal crisis? Streamline its 566 towns. Or so say the Good Government types.

"Let us have consolidation," explains Nathan Horton, former counsel to the City of Orange, in an interview with the New York Times. "It would be economy in more ways than one."

"New Jersey is in desperate need of a better allocation of the fiscal and governmental responsibilities," notes the state's County and Municipal Government Study Commission, "for the planning, financing, and performance of the functions and services provided by its local government systems."

But consolidating municipalities is easier said than done. The first quote dates to 1895; the second to 1968.