Medford Cemetery Association withdraws Park View Cemetery offer
The president of the Medford Cemetery Association notified Medford officials on April 16 that the association has withdrawn its offer to the township to purchase Park View Cemetery at Kirby’s Mill and Park View Cemetery at Historic Medford Village.
A town council meeting was held on April 21 in which the matter was a topic of discussion.
“It was a relatively quiet meeting. A handful of people came up and commented that had spoken at previous meetings who were pleased by this outcome and a few people thanked us for our efforts,” Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Beenstock said.
The township released a statement saying it received and accepted the notice from the MCA.
“The Medford Township Council has accepted this notice and expressed its appreciation to the Medford Cemetery Association for its willingness to explore the feasibility of working with the township on a unique investment opportunity which was expected to benefit all concerned,“ the statement read.
In the notice to the township, the association stated it would be withdrawing its offer and terminating its original letter of intent.
“Medford Cemetery Association, Inc. has concluded, after careful consideration, that the false information, negative statements and misrepresentations that have appeared in newspapers and social media could have a negative impact on our cemeteries. Therefore, MCA has determined to withdraw its offer to the Township of Medford to purchase Park View Cemetery at Kirby’s Mill and Park View Cemetery at Historic Medford Village. Please accept this as written notice that MCA is terminating the April 2 letter of intent and the April 7, 2015 term sheet,” the statement read.
The plan stated in this letter of intent was to sell the cemeteries to the township for $10.9 million. It was a topic of discussion that had many residents up in arms, further asking for it to be a matter of referendum.
The township planned to sell bonds to fund the purchase that had a targeted closing date of Dec. 30.
The council was looking to use the cemetery as a long-term source of revenue for a town that was nearly bankrupt in 2012. The project was predicted to provide $80 million in revenue over the next 50 years, after expenses and payment of debt service.
These projections were based on actual revenue reported by other New Jersey cemeteries on their tax returns that were approved by the State Cemetery Board in March 2010, yet they were highly scrutinized by residents.
“These projections are totally unrealistic. In fact, Burlington County is losing population. It decreased about a half percent last year,” Marlene Leiber said.
The township said this idea that had been under discussion since September 2012 would no longer be considered.
“I wouldn’t describe myself as disappointed. I always knew that there was some chance that it wouldn’t go through,” Beenstock said. “But I still think it would have been good for the town, so there is a bit of disappointment in that sense.”
