Tennessee § 46-2-107 - Funds to maintain cemeteries.

§ 46-2-107. Funds to maintain cemeteries.

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, upon a majority vote of the legislative body of the local government, the local government may draw upon its general fund and may solicit, receive, and utilize funds from all other sources, public or nonpublic, for the purpose of rehabilitating or maintaining dilapidated or abandoned cemeteries, or portions of cemeteries, subject to the limitations imposed by subsection (b). The maintenance may include: Clearing vegetation or debris as appropriate, planting and otherwise improving the premises, cutting the grass and raking and cleaning cemetery plots at reasonable intervals; Repairing and preserving the drains, water lines, roads, fences, statues, fountains and other structures; Securing, maintaining or reconstructing the necessary records of lot ownership and burials; Resetting or straightening tipped gravemarkers, monuments or memorials; or Replacing damaged gravemarkers, monuments or memorials. This section shall not be construed to authorize any local government to utilize funds to maintain cemeteries or portions of cemeteries that are presently maintained adequately or that maintain a sufficient improvement care trust fund pursuant to this chapter and chapter 1 of this title. As used in this section, “local government” means any county, municipality, city, or other political subdivision of this state. Acts 1980, ch. 814, § 1; T.C.A., § 46-3-114 ; Acts 2006, ch. 1012, § 5; 2016, ch. 924, §§ 1-3. Compiler's Notes. Former § 46-3-114 was transferred to this section by Acts 2006, ch. 1012, § 5, effective January 1, 2007. Attorney General Opinions. Use of public funds to maintain private roads to private cemeteries, OAG 99-097, 1999 Tenn. AG LEXIS 97 (4/27/99). T.C.A. § 54-7- 202 does not necessarily prohibit a county from repairing or maintaining roads in such a county if the roads lead to a cemetery and are available for public. It only prohibits the use of nonmonetary county resources for anything other than official county road purposes, subject to statutory exceptions. if a road qualifies as part of a dilapidated or abandoned cemetery, the county would be permitted to solicit, receive, and use funds to rehabilitate and maintain the cemetery, including any road that is a portion of the cemetery. However, T.C.A. § 46-2-107 does not abrogate T.C.A.. § 54-7-202 ’s prohibition on county officers and county employees from using any county vehicle, equipment, supplies, or road materials for non-official county road purposes. Accordingly, while a county may use those funds solicited and received for the purpose of rehabilitating a cemetery, it may not use its own nonmonetary resources, even if reimbursed with the funds received. Neither T.C. A. § 46-2-107 nor § 54-7-202 prohibits a county from contracting with a private contractor to repair and preserve these roads as long as the county has the authority to use its funds to repair and preserve the road in question. OAG 17-46, 2017 Tenn. AG LEXIS 46 (10/11/2017).