Amherst to Review Cemetery Maintenance Financing

Amherst will be reviewing the town's cemetery maintenance financing, including potential updates to the process.

The Amherst Board of Selectmen, with the Cemetery Trustees and Trustees of the Trust Fund, announced the review March 21. Selectmen will be launching a seven-person committee to review various categories and issues and offer recommendations to the Board of Selectmen and to the trustees.

The categories encompass, according to the town's announcement: 

• Regulations – Gaining clarity about, and adherence to, legal requirements regarding the management and disbursement of related trusts. This effort would focus on understanding the purposes, uses of, status, forms of disbursement, and appropriate strategies for managing cemetery trusts – particularly the Putnam, Wilkins, Other, Perpetual Care, and the Cemetery Lots 
Maintenance Trusts. 
• Processes – Upgrading and adhering to processes related to the “sale” of plots, burial expense tracking and reimbursement, and the financial management of revenue and expense streams associated with cemetery maintenance. This would include, but not be limited to: 
o A review of, and recommendations for, ways to handle finances associated with the granting of rights to inter (including pricing and the split between cemetery trust funds and the town’s general fund). 
o Procedures by which Cambridge Trust deposits inflowing funds into appropriate trust and general fund accounts, as well as procedures by which those funds are disbursed. 
o Managing finances related to the cost of burials. 
o Tracking, apportioning, vouchering, and reimbursing the town for cemetery maintenance. 
• Financial Reconciliation – For identified situations where monies have not been billed, paid, or deposited in proper accounts, to reconcile and correct these variances for whatever period is deemed appropriate. 
The seven members will include a representative from the Board of Selectmen, Cemetery Trustees and Trustees of the Trust Funds, the Amherst Finance Director, and three members of the public - appointed by the selectmen.

Selectmen hope the committee can launch in April and offer recommendations by summer.

Residents interested in serving on the committee should contact Town Administrator Jim O’Mara at jomara@amherstnh.gov no later than April 11.
Appointments will be made by the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting on Monday April 14.