[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Seward as Ch. 2, Art. 6, §§ 2-602 through 2-610, of the 1976 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Cemetery Board — See Ch. 12, Art. V.
[Amended 6-17-1997 by Ord. No. 29-97; 10-2-2007 by Ord. No. 30-07]
A. 
The municipality owns and manages the municipal cemetery through the Cemetery Board and City Administrator.[1] The Mayor and Council, for the purpose of defraying the cost of the care, management, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of such cemeteries and the inhabitants thereof, may each year levy a tax not exceeding 5 2/10 cents on each $100 upon the taxable value of all the taxable property in the municipality subject to taxation for general purposes. The tax shall be collected and paid to the municipality as taxes for general purposes are collected and paid to the municipality. All taxes collected for this purpose shall constitute and be known as the "Cemetery Fund" and shall be used for the general care, management, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of such cemeteries and the inhabitants thereof. The Cemetery Fund shall also include all gifts, grants, deeds of conveyance, bequests, money, stocks, bonds, or other valuable income-producing personal property and real estate from any source for the purpose of endowing the cemetery. Warrants upon this fund shall be drawn by the Cemetery Board and shall be paid by the Municipal Treasurer. The City Council may issue a warrant from the Cemetery Fund if a payment is due and the Cemetery Board is not scheduled to meet prior to such due date to authorize the warrant.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 12, Art. V, Cemetery Board.
[2]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
B. 
After the burial and cemetery grounds are fully paid for, the City may set aside the proceeds of the sale of lots as a perpetual fund to be invested as provided by ordinance. The income from the fund may be used for the general care, management, maintenance, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of the cemetery. The principal of the perpetual fund may be used for the general care, management, maintenance, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of the cemetery as long as no more than 20% of the principal is so used in any fiscal year and no more than 40% of the principal is so used in any period of 10 consecutive fiscal years. The principal of the perpetual fund may also be used for the purchase and development of additional land to be used for cemetery purposes as long as no more than 25% of the principal is so used in any fiscal year and no more than 35% of the principal is so used in any period of 10 consecutive fiscal years.[3]
[3]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
C. 
The City may receive money by donation, bequest, or otherwise for credit to the perpetual fund to be invested as provided by ordinance or as conditioned by the donor. The income therefrom may be used for the general care, management, maintenance, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of the cemetery as the donor may designate. The principal therefrom may be used for the general care, management, maintenance, improvement, beautifying, and welfare of the cemetery as the donor may designate as long as no more than 20% of the principal is so used in any fiscal year and no more than 40% of the principal is so used in any period of 10 consecutive fiscal years. The principal therefrom may also be used for the purchase and development of additional land to be used for cemetery purposes as the donor may designate, so long as no more than 25% of the principal is so used in any fiscal year and no more than 35% of the principal is so used in any period of 10 consecutive fiscal years.[4]
[4]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
D. 
The City Treasurer shall be the custodian of such funds, and the same shall be invested by a board composed of the Mayor, City Treasurer, and City Clerk.
E. 
This section does not limit the use of any money that comes to the City by donation, bequest, or otherwise that is not designated to be credited to the perpetual fund or that allows greater use for purchase or development of additional land to be used for cemetery purposes.
(Neb. RS 12-401 through 12-403)
A. 
Purchase of property. The City, through its Mayor and Council, may, by eminent domain as provided by law, condemn, purchase, hold and pay for, in the manner provided for by law, land not exceeding 160 acres outside the corporate limits for the purpose of the burial of the dead.
B. 
Gifts and devises. The Mayor and Council are empowered and authorized to receive by gift or devise real estate for cemetery purposes. The Mayor and Council are also empowered and authorized to receive by gift, grant, deed or conveyance, devise or bequest from any person, personal property of any kind or description, including money, stocks, bonds, securities, endowments, trust funds, equipment, supplies, records, and plats, for cemetery purposes. The Mayor and Council are likewise empowered and authorized, for cemetery purposes, to receive by gift, devise or bequest real and personal property of any kind or description, including money, stocks, bonds, securities, endowments, trust funds, equipment, supplies, records and plats belonging to any cemetery association or associations, which said cemetery has already been properly surveyed and platted and used for cemetery purposes. In the event the City, through its Mayor and Council, should desire to purchase any cemetery belonging to any corporation, partnership, association or individual, which said cemetery has already been properly surveyed and platted and used for cemetery purposes, then the Mayor and Council are authorized and empowered to purchase said cemetery.
C. 
Title. Where such real estate and personal property are acquired by gift, devise or bequest, the title shall then be in the City upon the conditions imposed by the donor and upon acceptance by the Mayor and Council. Where such real estate is acquired by purchase or by virtue of the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and the personal property is acquired by purchase, the title shall then absolutely be in the City.
The Mayor and Council may survey, plat, map, grade, fence, ornament, and otherwise improve all burial and cemetery grounds and avenues leading thereto acquired or owned by the City. The Mayor and Council may construct walks and protect ornamental trees therein, and provide for paying the expenses thereof.
A. 
The governing body may convey cemetery lots by certificate signed by the Mayor, and countersigned by the Municipal Clerk under the Municipal Seal, specifying that the person to whom the same is issued is the owner of the lot described therein by number for the purpose of interment. The certificate shall give a right in fee simple to the proprietor, his heirs, and assigns. The certificate shall then be recorded in the office of the County Clerk.
B. 
The Mayor and Council may limit the number of cemetery lots which shall be owned by the same persons at the same time. They may prescribe rules for enclosing, adorning and erecting monuments, and tombstones on cemetery lots. They may prohibit any diversion of the use of such lots and any improper adornment thereof; but no religious test shall be made as to the ownership of lots, the burial therein, or the ornamentation of graves or of such lots.
(Neb. RS 16-243)
Any person who wishes to transfer a certificate may do so by surrendering the original certificate to the Municipal Clerk, who shall issue a new certificate upon the receipt of the recording fee set by resolution of the governing body.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Sec. 2-608 of the 1976 Code, Perpetual care, as amended, which immediately followed this section, was repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[Amended 6-1997 by Ord. No. 31-97]
All persons desiring to bury a deceased person shall first be required to file a completed death certificate with the Registrar of the County before any body may be buried in the municipal cemetery. If it is impossible to complete the certificate of death, within the legal period of time prescribed by state law, the funeral director shall notify the Registrar and obtain his written approval before the deceased person may be buried in the municipal cemetery. The burial permit so issued by the Registrar shall then be filed with the Municipal Clerk of the City. It shall be unlawful for the City, or other person, to allow the interment of a body without first receiving such permit. The burial permit shall then be countersigned and dated by the City. The interment of any body shall be performed under the direct supervision of a licensed funeral director. The applicant shall also file with the burial permit an application containing the name, age, sex, race and cause of death of the deceased person for the records of the Cemetery Board. Upon completion of the requirements herein, the City shall then issue a municipal burial permit which shall entitle the applicant to bury a deceased person in the municipal cemetery. In the event that the removal of the body of any deceased person is requested, the City shall issue no permit until the applicant shall have first complied with the laws of the State of Nebraska with respect to such disinterment. (Neb. RS 71-605)
[Amended 9-16-1986 by Ord. No. 1586]
When any lot has been transferred by warranty deed or by a deed conveying a fee simple title, but there has been no burial in any such lot or subdivision thereof and no payment of annual assessments for a period of three years, the Cemetery Board, with the sanction of the governing body, may reclaim the unused portion of such lot or subdivision after notifying the record owner or his or her heirs or assigns, if known, by certified mail and publishing notice of its intention to do so. Such notice shall be published once each week for four weeks in a newspaper of general circulation throughout the county in which the cemetery is located, shall describe the lot or subdivision proposed to be reclaimed, and shall be addressed to the person in whose name such portion stands of record or, if there is no owner of record, to all persons claiming any interest in such lot or subdivision. If no person appears to claim such lot or subdivision and pay all delinquent assessments with interest within 15 days after the last date of such publication, the Cemetery Board may by resolution reclaim such lot or subdivision. Such reclamation shall be complete upon a filing of a verified copy of such resolution, together with proof of publication, in the office of the Register of Deeds.