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Vermont senators hear mixed views on S.275 to fund cemetery vandalism repairs
Summary
Witnesses told the Senate Government Operations Committee that S.275 could help underfunded historic cemeteries but raised concerns about shifting an existing $5 burial-permit fee to a state fund, administrative burden on town clerks and whether the fee unfairly affects families who choose cremation or cannot afford funerals.
The Senate Committee on Government Operations heard testimony Feb. 20 on S.275, a bill to establish a cemetery vandalism response fund to pay for repairs at historic and inactive cemeteries. Sponsor Senator Weeks introduced witnesses from cemetery and funeral-industry groups who disagreed over who should collect and hold the money and whether a $5 burial-permit fee should be redirected to the proposed fund.
Lawrence Davignon, a licensed funeral director and Randolph cemetery superintendent, asked the committee to use existing death-certificate and burial-permit procedures to capture the $5 fee and warned that some interments or scattering of cremated remains may not create an obvious point of collection. "Sometimes people bury cremated remains on their own property,"…
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