Photo by Shelley Hanson The city of Martins Ferry established a permanent improvement fund for Riverview Cemetery after recently rescinding an ordinance to do away with its cemetery endowment fund.

Riverview Cemetery is expected to get needed repairs to retaining walls and other problems in the future, thanks to the city being able to use an endowment fund.

Martins Ferry City Council recently rescinded its ordinance related to the Cemetery Endowment Fund and instead created a Cemetery Permanent Improvement Fund. Previously, the money in the endowment, about $180,000, was considered to be available for perpetual care only and could not be used for current repairs and improvements to the cemetery.

However, now that the money has been placed in an improvement fund, the city is expected to be able to use it. During a recent council meeting, Councilman Tom Burns said the city would leave the money in the new fund for at least a year to make sure it passed muster during the next audit. After that it will be OK to use.

In one of his previous cemetery committee reports, Burns explained the process of getting the money released:

“Since Mr. (Scott) Porter has been our service director, he has worked diligently with our attorney, Mr. Paul Stecker, on this project. As per my conversations with Mr. Porter, I understand that the endowment fund was created by city ordinance and can be rescinded by another city ordinance and the money placed in a permanent improvement account for the cemetery,” Burns wrote. “Mr. Porter contacted the Ohio Attorney General’s office and … the eastern representative for the Ohio State Auditor’s Office and as Scott relayed it to me, we could do as aforementioned.”

A few years ago the city switched the amount of money being placed into perpetual care. Now of the $400 paid, $50 worth goes into perpetual care and $350 goes into capital improvement.

City Law Director Paul Stecker said previously that perpetual care funds were created to allow for the care of a cemetery if the original entity that owned it dissolved. But he said it was unlikely the city of Martins Ferry would ever dissolve, making such a fund obsolete.