ThisWeek CW 10/23/2014

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/10/20/township-agrees-to-help-maintain-asbury-cemetery.html

Madison Township trustees have voted to provide financial assistance for the maintenance of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Cemetery.

The cemetery, located across from Asbury United Methodist Church, 4760 Winchester Pike, is maintained by the Asbury Cemetery Association.

However, the association doesn’t have any full-time employees, according to township Administrator Susan Brobst, only a part-time staff that has had difficulty completing some of the needed maintenance or finding funds to pay to get the work completed.

“Other than fuel and electricity, they don’t have standard month-to-month expenses,” Brobst said. “Some of their costs depend on burials, and the part-time staff has a maximum number of hours they can work but don’t work that many hours. They have had unexpected expenses due to storm damage over the past couple years that they normally wouldn’t have spent money on, and that’s what’s got them in a pinch now.”

According to Brobst, the concern for the township is that if the association does not regain its ability to sustain itself, the cemetery could go into default and ultimately become the township’s responsibility — and that could potentially require additional township investments in staff and resources.

“The hope is to assist them a little bit this year to help them maintain this themselves, and then by 2015, assess their fee structure and discuss how to bring in more revenue so that they become sustainable again,” Brobst said.

Trustees unanimously passed legislation to provide $500 in assistance to the cemetery association through the end of 2014, with the expectation that the township will consider similar legislation for 2015 after the first of the year.

The funds are approved for “the purpose of providing some or all of the items listed: gravel removal, monthly utility payments, fuel for cemetery equipment, office postage, assist with removal of brush and dirt piles, and consult on repairs for equipment and facilities, including supplies and manpower for minor repairs.”