The Martin Townsh
ip Board Wednesday night adopted a new cemetery ordinance that essentially tweaks the old one.
Perhaps the biggest changes in the new rules deal with cost for burials and grave openings and the length of time a for a plot to expire because of no use.
Burial for Martin Township residents now will cost $100, but non-residents will pay $750. Because of that wide discrepancy, officials are willing to revisit the gap between $400 and $600 for grave openings. Local officials also want to make certain that longtime residents who didn’t live in Martin Township over the last several years are still accommodated. The township clerk will be given the power in those cases.
“We want to accommodate people who have been longtime residents, at the discretion of the clerk,” explained Treasurer Sue Tiemeyer.
Local officials also have agreed to look at cremations differently in terms of burial costs because they take up a lot less space.
Decorations for graves and headstones will be limited to one week prior to and one week after holidays between May 1 and Oct. 1.
Furthermore, residents who buy a plot, but do nothing afterward now are given 60 years rather than 40 before the plot is reclaimed by the township.
The action followed a brief examination of survey and may of the East Martin Cemetery.
