Cemetery group gives up control of grave sites

Town Board members are seeking a new group of volunteers to run the 186-year-old Woodstock Cemetery.

Town Board members are seeking a new group of volunteers to run the 186-yearold Woodstock Cemetery after the association that ran the eight-acre site ran out of money and relinquished control.

In a telephone interview, former Woodstock Cemetery Association President Terry Breitenstein said the annual budget for maintenance was about $50,000, but the association had only about $30,000 in revenue.

“For the past two years and again this year, we have lost money,” he said. “It’s a very difficult thing today to keep a private cemetery going . ... Our only revenue is selling graves and doing grave openings and you can only raise the price of graves just so much.”

The association had been in charge of the cemetery its entire existence and on Nov. 28 agreed that town officials should take over management duties.

Breitenstein said fundraising efforts have been unsuccessful and there is no assistance available from the state unless the graveyard is turned over to the town.

“They have no type of ... benefits available to a private cemetery,” he said.

“My decision was predicated on just not being able to find a solution and also finding out that something like 167 private cemeteries in the last three years in New York went under,” Breitenstein said. “When you get to that point where you simply don’t have the funds to operate it anymore, ... the municipality has to take it over.”

State funding will pay for infrastructure repairs if the cemetery is turned over, but will not fund ongoing maintenance. Municipalities are required to assume responsibility for graveyards when private associations no longer can oversee care.

Breitenstein said there are about 10,000 graves in the cemetery, which is along Rock City Road, adjacent to Andy Lee Field. He added that there is only space for about 800 additional graves.

Supervisor Bill McKenna said it is hoped that a new association can be formed early next year.

“All the boxes and files and folders and checkbook have been deposited in my office,” he said. “It is my understanding that there is a group of interested citizens who are going to be holding a meeting in January ... to discuss the possibilities of constituting a new board.”