A joint hearing of the New York City Council Committees on General Welfare, Parks and Recreation, and Health on Hart Island brought agency officials, advocates and family members together to examine burial operations, capacity projections and reforms including a proposed city study of burial practices and a request to raise funeral-assistance limits.

The hearing, led by Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala and co-chairs Council Members Lynn Schulman and Shekhar Krishnan, focused on the island’s role as the city’s public cemetery, agency responsibilities after a 2021 transfer of jurisdiction, and two legislative proposals: Int. 1408, a local bill to require a capacity and burial-practices study by the Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services (HRA/DSS) and the Parks Department; and Resolution 775, which would raise the city’s funeral cost limit for burial assistance from $3,400 to $6,000.

Why it matters: Hart Island is the city’s largest public cemetery and has been used since the 19th century to bury people who were unclaimed or could not afford private burial. Council members and witnesses said questions about long-term capacity, ground stability, visitation access and record completeness affect thousands of families and require coordinated agency planning.

HRA testimony and operational details

Matthew Bruni, chief operating officer at the Department of Social Services, told the committees that HRA/DSS assumed caretaker responsibilities after the transfer of management in 2021 and now oversees interment and disinterment contracts, basic maintenance and an interagency process with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) and Parks. Bruni said HRA/DSS welcomes Int. 1408 but urged a longer timeline than the bill’s 180-day requirement, adding that “180 days would not provide enough time to complete a thorough analysis” and asking for roughly 18 months to contract experts and publish a usable report.

Bruni provided operational figures: HRA/DSS’s Office of Burial Assistance received 2,348 applications in the most recent full fiscal year (FY25) and approved 818 (about 35 percent). HRA cited the leading denial reasons as missing documentation within a required filing window and costs that exceeded the $3,400 cap tied to state claiming rules. He said the HRA budget includes funding for nine city staff dedicated to island burial operations (budgeted at about $784,000) and that the current municipal cemetery operations contract with J. Pizarusso Landscaping Corporation (referred to in testimony as JPL) is roughly $8.1 million in this fiscal year; combined with DOT ferry costs of about $1.0 million, the total in the HRA budget code is about $9.1 million for the year described.

OCME processes and recordkeeping

Vincent Ruggero, executive director of Mortuary and Response Operations at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, described OCME’s outreach and due-diligence work when next of kin are unknown, and the steps used to refer decedents for public burial. He told the committee: “Eligible next of kin may request public burial at any time,” and explained that OCME posts unidentified cases to NamUs, prepares decedents in caskets for transport, and signs a manifest with HRA staff at the Hart Island departure point. Ruggero said disinterment requests are routine and that the OCME outreach process commonly takes 30–60 days, with case-dependent extensions.

Parks concept plan, access and capital projects

Sarah Nielsen, chief of policy and long-range planning for New York City Parks, and Charles Handris, Hart Island park supervisor, presented Parks’ recently completed Hart Island concept plan and described operational changes since Parks assumed management. Nielsen noted the concept plan’s listed capital estimates and priorities, and said the plan aims to preserve the island’s contemplative character while improving visitor facilities and ecological resilience. The concept plan includes a modest welcome center, adaptive reuse of a historic chapel, circulation improvements, shore stabilization and a new maintenance compound; earlier council remarks cited an estimate of about $130 million for a suite of projects in planning materials.

Parks and HRA described visitation and public programming changes since the transfer. Charles Handris said Parks now offers gravesite visitations two days per month (one Saturday and one Sunday) with two trips each day (10 a.m. and 1 p.m.), and that the agency has increased per-trip visitation capacity (from about 25 under prior management to roughly 35 in busier periods). Parks staff said more than 2,200 people have taken gravesite visits since October 2021 and that Urban Park Ranger public tours, launched in November 2023, have hosted about 1,100 participants.

Capacity, burial depth and environmental concerns

Committee members and witnesses debated capacity projections and burial practices. HRA told the committees a conservative current estimate of remaining capacity under Parks’ proposed approach is about 18 years. Advocates and family-members urged a more detailed study of subsurface groundwater, especially in lower-elevation southern areas of the island; they warned that deep trenches could encounter rising groundwater and that burying dozens or hundreds of caskets at eight-foot depth could create ground instability and complicate later disinterments.

Melinda Hunt, president of the Hart Island Project, urged passage of Int. 1408 and urged the council to require a study that includes groundwater and geotechnical testing before implementing capital or burial-practice changes. Hunt recommended exploring shallower individual burials (described in testimony as three-foot burials), GPS marking of individual locations, inclusion of cremains in publicly accessible records, and that Parks use meadow plantings rather than high-water-demand turf in sensitive areas.

Families’ testimony: access, records and dignity

Multiple family members described long searches for records, frustration with limited visitation frequency, and concern about gravesite identification. Witnesses called for more frequent, weekday visitation options, easier ferry access, better public records and GPS-based gravesite location, a family advisory committee, and opposition to covering or disturbing existing graves without family consent. Elaine Joseph, who said she located the likely resting place of her infant after many years of advocacy, asked the council to avoid practices that would place additional burials over earlier burials without clear consent.

Legislative items discussed

- Int. 1408 (Ayala, sponsor): would require HRA/DSS and Parks (with any relevant agencies) to study burial procedures, trench locations/dimensions, remaining capacity and alternatives; the bill would require a written report to the mayor and speaker and online posting. HRA supports a study but asked the council to allow 18 months instead of 180 days. No final committee vote was recorded at the hearing.

- Res. 775 (Lewis, sponsor): would increase the funeral cost limit for burial assistance for low‑income New Yorkers from $3,400 to $6,000. Supporters argued the current cap is out of step with private funeral costs; HRA explained the $3,400 figure relates to state claiming rules administered with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

What the hearing did not decide

The hearing was an oversight and fact‑finding session; committees did not hold a recorded vote on either bill at the hearing. Agency witnesses identified open questions—most prominently the scope and timeline for a capacity and geotechnical study, capital funding sources, operational staffing and procurement timelines—and committee members pressed for follow-up data on disinterment counts, the historical completeness of burial records and options for expanded visitation and ferry arrangements.

Next steps and closing

Council members and advocates asked agencies to return with more granular data, geotechnical analysis for southern burial areas, a clear timeline for CMTS (the cemetery management tracking system) public features, and cost estimates tied to specific capital projects. Supporters of Int. 1408 pressed for a study scope that addresses groundwater and burial depth, while families called for improved access and permanent public records. Officials from HRA, Parks and OCME said they would continue interagency coordination and work with the council on study timing and procurement for future capital work.