MAZON – Barb Kenney of Mazon makes a weekly trip to Mazon Brookside Cemetery to visit the graves of her parents.

Kenney, treasurer for the cemetery board, worries how members can keep the cemetery looking nice for those buried there as the organization has come into financial difficulties paying for the cost of mowing and insurance.

“The sad thing is we have $26,000 that we are not allowed to touch that is ruled by the [state] comptroller’s office,” Kenney said. “We can borrow it if we need to, but it would have to be paid back by the end of the year.”

Kenney said these problems aren’t unique to the small rural cemetery, as other cemeteries throughout Illinois are facing similar issues.

Phyllis Breisch, who has sat on the board for more than 28 years, said 15 percent of the money used for purchasing a plot goes into the comptroller fund for perpetual care.

In years past, the fund’s interest helped pay operating expenses, but with interest rates at 1 to 2 percent, and the small amount Brookside has in the fund, it isn’t enough to pay the bills, which total about $5,000 a year. The cemetery board pays for mowing, garbage disposal and insurance required on the land. The only income it has is when a plot is sold.

“Our expenses are small. It’s just insurance, disposal service and mowing,” Breisch said. “We don’t have enough to pay even the mowing.”

She said it has come to the point that there is less than $1,000 in the account.

Kenney said the cemetery has been in this position before, three years ago. The board asked for and received donations.

Kenney said she donated a portion last time, but is unable to do so again. She hopes others will step forward and help the group take care of the cemetery.

“We really need help,” she said.

Breisch said the only alternative the board has is to hand over care to Mazon Township, which it doesn’t want to do.

“If the township has to take over it will be a strain on the township,” Kenney said. “That will have to come from taxpayers.”

There are three cemeteries in the town of Mazon, and if all end up in the same position, the township would be responsible for all of the cemeteries.

The all-volunteer cemetery board has had its share of expenses and work that also took some of the finances.

Several years ago there was a mausoleum that deteriorated to the point the board felt the building needed to be torn down.

The board chose to rebury those who were in the mausoleum and give each a headstone.

The board covered the expense.

“A lot of them had no family left,” Kenney said. “We had to bury them and give them a headstone.”

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DONATE

Monetary donations can be sent to: Mazon Brookside Cemetery, c/o Mazon State Bank, P. O. Box 367, Mazon, IL 60444.  “General fund” should be noted on the check.