Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in the Great State of Ohio

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"A cemetery may be considered as abandoned when all or practically all of the bodies have been Removed therefrom and no bodies have been buried therein for a great many years, and the cemetery has been so long neglected as entirely to lose its identity as such, and is no longer known, recognized and respected by the public as a cemetery. 1953 OAG 2978."

Friday, July 7, 2017

Sharing: "A grave situation: Six-figure endowment fund might not be solution for Alliance's cemetery woes"

"A grave situation: 

Six-figure endowment fund might not be solution for Alliance's cemetery woes"


By STEPHANIE UJHELYI sujhelyi@the-review.com 

Published: July 7, 2017 3:00 AM
Excerpts:

"Alliance Auditor Kevin Knowles' $80,000 transfer from the general fund into the Alliance City Cemetery coffers has become an annual ritual, despite the fact that more than $700,000 appears to sit just out of reach. However, as a fiscal distress designation by the state of Ohio looms, city officials don't have that extra cemetery infusion just laying around.
Since 1970, cemetery associations or companies have been required to deposit at least 10 percent of its gross proceeds from the sale of interment rights into a separate endowment, or perpetual care, fund, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce's website.
In the case of the Alliance City Cemetery, Parks Director Kim Cox explained Tuesday that 27.5 percent of all grave lot sales are placed in the perpetual care fund, which doesn't appear to be required under Ohio law for municipally owned or political subdivisions.
During a special Parks, Recreation and Public Lands board meeting, she noted that no one seems to know the answer regarding if and when this entity, which was asked to bundle together cuts in $50,000 increments in case they are needed, can touch any of those perpetual care funds."
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Alliance City Cemetery on Find A Grave lists 23,901 interments.