|
The Executive Director of the New Jersey State Funeral
Directors Association said “I’m probably not the most popular guy among New
Jersey Cemeterians,” Why?
For some reason New Jersey Funeral Directors feel that they
are in a battle to keep New Jersey Cemeteries out of the funeral business. The
recent funeral director battle reverences have to do with the recent Assembly
Bill 2973 introduced by Assemblymen Wilfredo
Caraballo. The Bill if enacted would again permit cemeteries to
sell cemetery memorials, monuments and private mausoleums; products they used to
sell until 1971 when legislation lobbied for and pushed by funeral directors
prevented cemeteries from further selling these products.
For the last thirty-five years the not-for-profit
cemeteries in New Jersey have
seen lost surplus revenues turn profits for every other provider of these
products. Had the cemeteries held their ability to sell these products, many
cemeteries would not be in dire financial straights they are in
today.
However, Assembly Bill 2973 is not about the surplus for
cemeteries or the profits for funeral homes. The Bill is about protecting the
heritage of New Jersey
cemeteries. The Bill if enacted would give New Jersey cemeteries the opportunity
to sell these products and place a percentage of the revenues into the
cemetery Permanent Maintenance and Preservation trust funds as well as a new
Distressed Cemetery Fund established to support financially burdened cemeteries
and administered by the New Jersey State Cemetery Board
What reasonable person would argue the merits of a Bill
that would help New Jersey
cemeteries?
The answer has to rest in the thought that New Jersey funeral directors, burial
vault manufacturer's and monument company’s want to maintain the status quo of
minimizing any competition for these products and in the end keep the money for
their for-profit businesses.
So what are the battle lines today that funeral directors
say exist between them and cemeteries? What is it that would cause
one-hundred-ten funeral directors to show up in mass, fifty plus monument and
burial vault companies’s and spend thousands of dollars lobbying against
Assembly Bill 2973? Is it the money?
I am at a loss to understand the reasoning. Funeral
Directors are not permitted to sell memorials, monuments or private mausoleums
today. Both business professions provide serves and products to New Jersey families. Funeral
directors serve families for the few days immediately following a death.
Cemeteries serve families not for a few days; they are entrusted the
responsibility to provide care forever… If the cemetery provides care forever,
why would anyone oppose cemeteries selling products and earning a surplus on
those products that are placed to rest in a cemetery and that they will have to
care for forever.
Is it the money?
The New Jersey Cemetery Association just wants the
opportunity to earn a little surplus so that they can perform their services
forever. Interestingly, the New Jersey Cemetery Association also feels that the
increased competition will lower cost to New
Jersey citizens. | 
