Letter: Funding issues put old cemetery at risk

Posted 5/25/17

To the editor:

The annual meeting of the Island Cemetery will be held on Wednesday, May 31, at 3 p.m. at the Newport County Chamber of Commerce Building, 35 Valley Road, Middletown.  

The …

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Letter: Funding issues put old cemetery at risk

Posted

To the editor:

The annual meeting of the Island Cemetery will be held on Wednesday, May 31, at 3 p.m. at the Newport County Chamber of Commerce Building, 35 Valley Road, Middletown.  

The Island Cemetery, located off Farewell Street in Newport, has experienced a serious financial setback.  The most recent accounting documents (2015), indicate that this historic cemetery, which is the final resting place for Oliver Hazard Perry, August Belmont, three Rhode Island governors, and others, lost more than 30 percent of its endowment in one year. 

This depletion of assets may call into question the long-term solvency of the cemetery. This financial challenge has implications not only for the grave owners but also for the surrounding neighborhoods since the future maintenance and security levels at the cemetery could be seriously impacted.  

At the May 31 board meeting,­­­­­­­­­ three new trustees will be selected and various cemetery policies may be discussed, e.g., dog use restrictions, community access, grave maintenance, security levels, financial projections, etc.  If you have an interest in the future of the Island Cemetery, you may want to monitor the proceedings.  Only owners of Island Cemetery lots are permitted to vote in trustee elections.

I am a member board of the Friends of the Island Cemetery Company, a 501(c))(3) organization.  I can be reached at 847-4646 for additional information about the meeting.

Matt McEntee

Middletown

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