Mount Auburn expansion effort: Taxes, etc.

The famous Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has an agreement to buy 2 acres for expansion. This story details efforts to gain tax revenue from the non-profit cemetery, which is exempt from paying real estate taxes. The cemetery wants to enter into a Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes (PILOT) agreement. An earlier agreement that expired in 2006 called for Mount Auburn to pay $20,000 a year. Since then, under terms of that agreement, it's paid $1 a year.
Mount Auburn was the first cemetery in the Rural Cemetery Movement. I'm unfamiliar with the PILOT agreement for cemeteries; if it's the first to create such an agreement, it'd be interesting to see whether others follow suit. I'll be doing the research on this.

North Dakota lawmakers OK cemetery protection from assessments

From the Grand Forks Herald, which requires registration to see content:
By: Ryan Johnson,
Grand Forks Herald

The North Dakota Senate reapproved a bill today that will ban cities in the state from charging nonprofit cemeteries special assessments.
Senate Bill 2441 was introduced by Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, in March. It was unanimously approved by the Senate on April 7, and passed the House of Representatives 88-4 on April 15.
The bill needed to go back to the Senate for lawmakers to approve an amendment that was added during its House discussions. With Tuesday’s 45-1 vote by the Senate, the only remaining step before it becomes law is approval by Gov. John Hoeven.
“The legislature is totally done with it,” Holmberg said.
He became involved this spring after the Grand Forks Cemetery Association unsuccessfully appealed its $240,000 of previous special assessments to the Grand Forks City Council.
If signed into law by Hoeven, the bill would allow cities to spread the loss of revenue among the entire municipality or to use non-tax funds to make up the difference.

North Dakota Senate OK exemption from assessment for cemetery

The North Dakota Senate approved a measure that would protect the non-profit Grand Forks cemetery association from being hit with special assessments. The city is seeking $300,000 from the association, but it claims a state Supreme Court ruling exempts it from such assessment.

Grand Forks update

Here are a couple of updates on attempts to protect the Grand Forks, North Dakota, cemetery association from being assessed a tax levy for flood control.
Dickinson Press
KFYR-TV

Tax levy planned for Nebraska town

Wallace, Nebraska, officials want to implement a tax of less than 10 cents per $1,000 value to help with the upkeep of Morning View Cemetery, which gets about $20,000 annually in interest with which to operate, about $2,000 less than it needs.

Lawmaker comes to rescue of Grand Forks cemetery

The Grand Forks, North Dakota, city government is seeking nearly $400,000 in special assessments from a cemetery association to help pay for flood protection, but a state lawmaker has introduced legislation to relieve that burden. Here is our earlier report on this, which includes a link to the original state Supreme Court decision ruling that cemeteries are exempt from such tax assessments.
Here is a story from Fargo on the subject.

Grand Forks council denies appeal from cemetery association

The Grand Forks council denied the request from the cemetery association to reduce its $240,000 in assessments to pay for a dike in the city.

Grand Forks, North Dakota, cemetery group under financial fire

You have to register for free access to the Grand Forks Herald, so here is the full story, from earlier in the week ... the Herald also came down on the cemetery association's side in an editorial, citing the 1970 state Supreme Court decision protecting cemeteries from assessments, and noting, among other things that cemeteries "tend to be shoestring rather than prosperous organizations."
THE FULL NEWS STORY HERE:
The Grand Forks Cemetery Association asked the City Council to reduce its dike assessments Monday, a decision that could affect assessments for other cemeteries in the city.
The Grand Forks Cemetery Association asked the City Council to reduce its dike assessments Monday, a decision that could affect assessments for other cemeteries in the city.
Cemetery officials appealed the 2001 and 2003 assessments, which association President Gordon Iseminger said was “excessive.” Not only that, he said, a 1970 state Supreme Court ruling said cities can’t special assess nonprofit cemeteries.
City Attorney Howard Swanson said he felt that the ruling was in error and, if the issue were to go to court again, today’s Supreme Court would over turn it.
At this point, the two sides are in a standoff. State law does not allow the city to take possession of a cemetery even if the cemetery did not pay its assessments. If the cemetery doesn’t pay, there’s little the city could do.
Some other cemeteries in Grand Forks also have been delinquent on their assessments. If the city were to decide to grant the Grand Forks Cemetery Association’s appeal, it will have set a precedent for the others. Other property owners in the city would have to bear the burden of the third dike assessment that the cemeteries are not paying.
Council member Curt Kreun said these fees were assessed to everyone else in the city. “We’re all in this together, and we all should pay our fair share.”
If the city decides next week to sue the association to recover the funds, the case could go to the state Supreme Court, according to Swanson.