Medford won't buy cemeteries after all

The idea of buying cemeteries to generate revenue did not immediately appeal to Medford Township officials when the owner first made the unusual offer in 2012.

Digging out of financial problems by raising property taxes was one thing. Digging graves and cremating remains was another.

But they mulled the projected earnings of Park View Cemetery at Historic Medford Village and Park View Cemetery at Kirby's Mill, and decided the idea had merit.

Several weeks ago, township officials approved a letter of intent to buy the cemeteries for nearly $11 million and said the investment could generate more than $82.7 million over 50 years.

Then came word Friday that the deal was dead.

The nonprofit Medford Cemetery Association sent Mayor Chuck Watson an e-mail signed by association president Earl F. Stahl Jr. withdrawing the offer.

The association "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," Stahl wrote. "Our first priority is our cemeteries and the families of loved ones that have chosen our cemeteries."

Stahl and the Medford Cemetery Association could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Watson said Stahl had "decided not to sell it to us anymore because of the negative publicity. Our town is very active on the social media.

"There were e-mails, letters to the editor and people coming to council meetings" who opposed the sale, he said. "If your customer base is not happy, that's not necessarily good for business."

"I think he had two motivations," Watson said of Stahl. "I think he wanted to help the town and help himself."

Many residents were open-minded about the proposal. "If half of the projections are right, it's a win-win," said Bob Wagner, managing partner of Braddock's Tavern, a restaurant near Park View Cemetery at Historic Medford Village at Coates and Filbert Streets. "It looks like a good deal, but I have no way of knowing for sure."

But others questioned the propriety of the town's running a private business, said Deputy Mayor Jeff Beenstock, who is also a real estate lawyer. Some also wondered whether the financial predictions were accurate.

The proposal "has definitely gotten a lot of attention," Beenstock said.

Some of the objections were strongly worded.

"I got an e-mail that said if you go through with this deal, I'll never be buried at that cemetery," Watson said. "The deal is pretty much dead, no pun intended."

Watson said he understood the opposition.

"My first reaction [to the proposal] was that I didn't have any desire to get involved in the cemetery business," he said. "Why should a township own a business?

"But we owed it to residents to do our due diligence," he said. ". . . With costs going up, you have to find new sources of revenue or raise taxes, so we started looking at the numbers."

Other officials also had been uncertain about the deal. "I don't blame the residents," said Councilman Chris Buoni, a former mayor and vice president of Perfect Communications in Moorestown. "I didn't like it at first and changed my mind after it became clear that it made sense on a lot of fronts."

The town had planned to study the deal further over the coming weeks and, if convinced that it was sound, to sell bonds to fund the purchase. The closing date would likely have come at year's end, after completion of further development, including a crematory.

The town had already "run through 60 worst-and-best-case scenarios and even in the worst case, the town made a profit," Buoni said.

The purchase of cemeteries by a town is at least uncommon. "I haven't heard of this before," said Michael Darcy, assistant executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, which represents the state's 656 cities and towns. "It's an interesting angle."

If Medford had gone forward, it would have been "creating the mold," Darcy said.

The town already maintains three small cemeteries because the owners could no longer do so. If perpetual maintenance funds fail, "we would have to take care of it anyway," Buoni said. "At the end of the day, care of the graves and burying of the dead is a government function. You can't bury someone in your backyard."

On Friday, years after the controversial proposal was made, the Medford Council announced the deal's withdrawal 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 township will no longer consider this matter."