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Town trustees recommend pausing new perpetual-care cemetery accounts; trustees to draft warrant language
Summary
Town trustees told the Board of Selectmen that small perpetual-care cemetery accounts are shrinking in size and no longer earn enough to justify the administrative cost, and they recommended tabling action while staff and counsel draft resolution language.
Town trustees advised the Board of Selectmen that contributions to new perpetual-care cemetery accounts have fallen sharply and that the revenue from those small accounts no longer covers the cost of administering them.
The trustees presented three options discussed in a memo circulated to the board: set a minimum contribution (the trustees said a minimum would need to be about $1,800 to cover the long-term cost of one plot), convert existing perpetual-care accounts into a nonrestricted account (which would require a warrant article), or stop accepting new perpetual-care contributions and refund any payments received since the start of the year. The trustees reported that average contributions have fallen from roughly $200'$300 to just over $100 in recent years, and that annual take last year was about $1,250.
Trustee counsel and staff discussed the procedural requirements for changing the account structure. The trustees said that moving to a nonrestricted fund would simplify accounting but would require legal work and a warrant article; trustees said they were concerned legal fees could outweigh the modest dollars involved. One trustee recommended tabling the matter while staff and town counsel draft the required resolution and warrant language. The presenter said any existing restricted principal funds must remain intact and would not be spent without appropriate authority.
On procedure, the trustees said that if the board agreed to cease accepting new perpetual-care funds, the change would be made retroactive to Jan. 1 of the current year and any new contributions received would be refunded. The trustees asked the selectmen to direct staff to produce draft language for the next meeting so the board could consider a warrant article or an administrative change.
No formal vote to change policy was taken at the meeting; trustees asked the board to table the issue while a draft resolution is prepared and returned for consideration.
