Okay,
1) Change the law so that the cemetery commissions CAN "acquire" the
cemeteries.
2) See if any of the local surveyors will donate their services for a tax
deduction (through in-kind services to a 501(3)(c) non profit).
The good thing is that laws can be changed. If the commissions need the
ability to "own" cemeteries, change the law...
Sue
----- Original Message -----
From: <KidClerk(a)aol.com>
To: <INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 3:37 AM
Subject: [INPCRP] legislative comments
In a message dated 10/30/2003 9:09:45 PM Central Standard Time,
tres257(a)yahoo.com writes:
> Creating a means for the
> property owner to gift a Co. Cemetery Commission with
> a cemetery, would allow the Co. Surveyor to do the
> survey and the property owner to receive a tax credit.
>
It sounds to me like you guys have done an excellent job putting together
a
cross section of issues as a 'starting point' and have hit
most of the
most
important ones for our legislators to act on first. Again I just
want to
thank
you for what you're doing on the behalf of all of us who have
been unable
to
assist. I would like to thank you for including the date change to
accommodate
us 'newcomers' up here in Newton County as well.
I just want to open a little discussion of the item I have copied above.
First of all, because of the make-up of the county cemetery commission,
I'm
not
sure the cemetery commission would be legally entitled to
'own' a cemetery
and
I'm not sure the county commissioners would want their cemetery
commissions
going out accepting property on behalf of the county, so we might
want to
discuss this point some more. What if the cemetery commission were to be
unfunded
or disbanded or inactive after accepting such a gift? Then we're
back
where we
started.
Secondly, many county surveyors do not survey....not even licensed. It's
an
elected position with no technical requirements, so there would still
be
the
possibility of needing a private survey and, again, incurring costs
against the
county, which might not go over very well with a county council and
commissioners.
I'm just throwing these points out for discussion. I just don't think
cemetery commissions are legally entitled to own a cemetery, and that goes
against
the concept of what a commission is for. It would be hard to tell a
township
trustee that "we're only here to supplement what you
do" when over in the
next
section of the township we end up being the owners of a pioneer
cemetery.
Then we will be in a position of competition (for money to keep up the
cemetery)
and not supplementing one another's work.
Just opening this up for more discussion.
Keep up the great work everyone....
Kyle D. Conrad
==== INPCRP Mailing List ====
Scott Satterthwaite < ssattert(a)localnet.com > is the INPCRP State
Coordinator. Feel free to contact him directly regarding questions or
comments you may have about the INPCRP.