Just 1 of 4 proposed cemeteries gets VA OK
Gallup site makes list but other NM locations don’t
Only one of the four veterans cemeteries state officials hope to build has been approved for reimbursement funding from the VA’s National Cemetery Administration.
Gov. Susana Martinez announced plans in April to build cemeteries in Gallup, Fort Stanton, Carlsbad and Angel Fire. The National Cemetery Administration has ranked those proposed cemeteries at 16th, 21st, 63rd and 65th, respectively, out of 91 sought nationwide.
Ray Seva, spokesman for the state Veterans’ Services Department, said Wednesday that only the top 17 cemeteries on the Cemetery Administration’s list will qualify for funding this year, meaning only the Gallup cemetery will move forward for the 2015 federal fiscal year.
The National Cemetery Administration recently released its rankings of the 91 applications it has received from state and tribal governments seeking approval to move forward with their planned cemeteries. Once approved, the VA will reimburse the state for allowable startup costs.
To apply for cemetery approval, the state had to provide matching funds, and the state Legislature earlier this year appropriated $600,000 for the proposed cemeteries.
Once approved, the VA matches dollar-for-dollar any money raised by a state or tribal government for the cemeteries. The state can use the reimbursements for cemetery staffing and upkeep.
“Now that the VA has approved grant funding for planning, developing and constructing a state veterans cemetery at Gallup, we are in the process of using the $600,000 to hire an architect and engineering firm to complete the design and drawing phases,” Seva said in an email.
If any of the cemetery proposals ranked higher than Gallup fall through, the others will move up on the list, he said.
The National Cemetery Administration website says all pending and new applications will be re-evaluated in August 2015 for FY 2016 consideration.
Although the proposed cemeteries for Fort Stanton, Carlsbad and Angel Fire won’t move forward this year, Seva said all three applications will be submitted again, as will any future proposed sites.
New Mexico has only two national cemeteries: Santa Fe National Cemetery and Fort Bayard National Cemetery. New Mexico veterans living within 75 miles of Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso can be buried there as well.
Past efforts by veterans groups to get additional national cemeteries were stymied by a VA regulation requiring that a minimum of 100,000 veterans live within a 75-mile radius of any proposed national cemetery site.
Because no communities outside of the Albuquerque metro area meet that criterion, the state will build and maintain the proposed cemeteries. More than two-thirds of the state’s estimated 170,700 veterans live farther than 75 miles from those cemeteries, according to the Governor’s Office.