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Trustees tell cemetery commission to plan projects for $395,000 fund rather than use it for annual budgets
Summary
Trustee of Public Funds Orvil Lasell told the commission the cemetery funds total roughly $395,000 and advised using returns for special projects (fencing, land acquisition, repairs) rather than routinely supplementing the operating budget; Wells Fargo has declined to continue managing the account.
Orvil Lasell, Trustee of Public Funds, told the Williamstown Cemetery Commission that as of Jan. 1 the commission’s funds were about $391,014 at Wells Fargo plus roughly $7,000 at Bar Harbor — "around $395,000," he said — and that Wells Fargo sent a December 2024 letter saying it did not want to continue servicing the account.
Lasell said trustees interpret an older statute (a law from 1934, as he described it) to mean the fund should not be used as a regular source for the annual operating budget. "The Trustees would prefer that your plans were for special projects and not annual budgeting," Lasell said, urging the commission to draft a project plan if it expects to draw larger sums than the historical spending rate.
He noted trustees have historically allowed roughly a 4% rolling withdrawal ("Around $16,000" annually, Lasell said) but warned that spending beyond that regularly would reduce principal. The trustees have moved the funds to Ameriprize pending final setup and said they prefer to work with professional investment managers rather than managing funds directly.
