(A)  The municipality owns and manages the municipal cemeteries through the Cemetery Board.

(B)  The governing body, for the purpose of defraying the cost of the care, management, maintenance and beautification of the cemeteries may each year levy a tax not exceeding the maximum limit prescribed by state law, on the taxable value of all taxable property within the municipality.

(C)  The revenue from the tax shall be known as the Cemetery Fund and shall include all gifts, grants, deeds of conveyance, bequests, money, stocks, bonds or other valuable income-producing personal property and real estate from any source for the purpose of endowing the cemeteries.

(D)  The Cemetery Fund shall at all times be in the custody of the Municipal Treasurer.

(D)  The Board shall have the power and authority to hire and supervise such employees as it may deem necessary and to pass such rules and regulations for the operation of the cemeteries as may be proper for its efficient operation.

(E)   All actions by the Board shall be under the supervision and control of the governing body.

(Neb. RS 12-301 through 12-403; 1999 Code, § 3-901)

The Cemetery Board, subject to the approval of the governing body, shall have the authority to appoint a Sexton, who shall perform such duties and make such reports as the Cemetery Board shall direct. It shall be the duty of the Sexton, upon receiving a burial permit to locate and direct the party named in the permit to the lot mentioned therein and to dig and excavate, or cause the same to be dug or excavated, in compliance with the rules and regulations of the Cemetery Board.

(Neb. RS 12-403; 1999 Code, § 3-902)

No burial shall be permitted in any church yard, or any other place within the corporate limits of the municipality, and any person violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of an offense, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine as prescribed in § 91.99.

(1999 Code, § 3-903)  Penalty, see § 91.99

It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Cemetery Board to charge and collect for excavating and digging graves and reopening graves, such sums as are determined to be adequate by said Cemetery Board with the approval of the governing body. The Cemetery Board shall have the right to dig and excavate all graves, regardless of the method of interment used.

(1999 Code, § 3-904)

(A)  The Cemetery Board, subject to the approval of the governing body shall have the power to fix the purchase prices of lots and burial spaces in said cemeteries which shall include, among other things, one schedule of prices adequate to provide for the perpetual care of said lot as well as the cemeteries in general. The purchase prices of the lots and burial places, fixed as aforesaid, shall be publicly exhibited in the office of the Cemetery Board on a map plat therein.

(B)  The Secretary, in his or her monthly report to the governing body as hereinafter required, shall include therein, among other things, a list of the lots or burial spaces sold during the preceding month, or since the date of his or her last report, legally describing them, together with the name of the purchaser and the price received for each lot or space.

(C)  Future additions to said cemeteries shall likewise be platted and the schedule for the purchase prices of lots and burial spaces in said additions shall be ordained by resolution. Change in the schedule of prices of lots or burial spaces fixed as aforesaid, may hereafter be made upon a two-thirds majority vote of the Cemetery Board, if and when approved by the governing body.

(1999 Code, § 3-905)

(A)  The Municipal Treasurer shall allocate and set apart 60% of the entire amount paid for lots or burial spaces, if said lot or burial space be endowed with perpetual care, as a permanent fund to be known as Cemeteries Perpetual Care Fund of the city, which, together with the money credited to said fund as provided in § 91.01, shall be a permanent fund, and as it accumulates shall be invested and kept invested in such interest bearing securities as the Investment Council of the state is authorized by law to invest in the funds of the state; and the income therefrom shall be used in the care, upkeep, ornamentation or maintenance of such lots and burial spaces and the cemeteries in general.

(B)  The municipality may receive money by donation, bequest or otherwise to be held in trust in perpetuity, the money so received shall be invested as the cemeteries perpetual care fund is herein required to be invested and the income derived therefrom shall be expended as the perpetual care fund is expended or as the donor may designate.

(C)  The Municipal Treasurer shall be the custodian of the cemeteries perpetual care fund which shall be invested by the Cemetery Board acting in concert with the Mayor, Municipal Clerk and Municipal Treasurer; and whenever investments are made by said investing board, the nature and character of the same shall be reported to the governing body; and said investment report shall be a matter of public record.

(D)  All other monies, including income from the perpetual care fund, accruing to the Cemetery Fund shall be credited, allocated, kept and disbursed by the Municipal Treasurer under the head of Cemeteries General Fund. The Municipal Treasurer shall take custody and control of any and all monies in the two funds hereinbefore mentioned and the same shall hereafter be managed as provided in this chapter.

(1999 Code, § 3-906)

(A)  The Secretary of the Cemetery Board is hereby authorized and directed to receive payment for all lots, parts of lots or burial spaces sold in said cemeteries at the purchase prices fixed in accordance with § 91.05 and upon receipt of such purchase price in cash or its equivalent, the Secretary shall issue the burial permit required in § 91.08 and shall prepare a deed or certificate for the purchaser or purchasers.

(B)  At least once during each 30 days the Secretary shall present all deeds for lots, parts of lots or burial spaces bargained and sold during said period by the Cemetery Board to the Mayor and Municipal Clerk for signature.

(C)  The municipality is hereby authorized to convey lots, parts of lots and burial spaces in said cemeteries by certificate signed by the Mayor and countersigned by the Municipal Clerk under the seal of the municipality, specifying that the person to whom the same is issued is the owner of the lot or lots described therein by number, as laid down on the cemetery map or plat for the purpose of interment; and such certificate shall vest in the purchaser or his or her heirs or assigns, a right in fee simple to such lot, lots, part of lot or burial space for the sole purpose of interment under the regulations of the Cemetery Board, as approved by the governing body; and the certificate shall be entitled to be recorded in the office of the County Clerk, without further acknowledgment, and such description of lots, parts of a lot or burial space shall be deemed and recognized as sufficient description thereof.

(D)  Burial lots shall not be held and used for speculation and no lot proprietor shall permit, for compensation, interment in or upon any lot held by him or her. The governing body deem it for the public good and welfare that all certificates issued, as aforesaid, be recorded.

(E)   The grantee of each lot, part of a lot or burial space shall pay to the Secretary a fee of $1.25 for recording expense and service, whereupon said Secretary, within 30 days thereafter, shall record the grantee’s certificate of ownership in the office of the County Clerk, pay the recording fee therefore and deliver said recorded certificate as directed as the purchaser.

(F)   Transfers of certificates shall be made by surrender or original certificates to the Secretary who shall cancel the same, note such cancellation on the records of the Cemetery Board, and shall issue new certificates in lieu thereof upon receipt of same fee for recording expense and service as in the case of issuing original certificates.

(1999 Code, § 3-907)

Every person or persons owning a lot, or part of a lot or burial space in any of said cemeteries, before he or she is entitled to bury upon said lot, part of a lot or burial space, shall be required to furnish a burial or removal permit from the registrar, setting forth the name, age, sex, race and cause of death of said deceased person sought to be buried or removed, which burial or removal permit shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Cemetery Board, whereupon said Secretary shall issue a permit to said person or persons for the burial, interment or removal of said deceased person; provided, in all cases, the Secretary of said Cemetery Board shall issue no permit to remove the same until the applicant for such removal shall have first complied with all the applicable laws of the state with respect to the removal or disinterment of dead bodies.

(1999 Code, § 3-908)

Within the municipal cemetery, there shall be included a plot of ground, which shall be available for the free burial of indigents and unknown travelers who may die while they are within the municipality.

(1999 Code, § 3-909)

The municipality shall care for all lots, parts of lots or burial spaces in its cemeteries now platted or to be platted, through its Cemetery Board, and shall keep the said lots and grounds free from weeds.

(1999 Code, § 3-910)

The names Rose Hill Cemetery and Hebron Cemetery are hereby designated as the names of the existing municipal cemeteries respectively.

(1999 Code, § 3-911)

(A)  The Cemetery Board shall have the power to adopt reasonable rules and regulations for the management of said cemeteries including the construction or removal of fences, corner posts or walls around any lot or lots, including the type of monuments which may be permitted or allowed and including the removal of the bodies deceased persons from lots, not endowed with perpetual care, upon failure of the owners thereof who shall have neglected to pay maintenance assessments in full for such lot, part of a lot or burial space, for a period of three years.

(B)  When said rules shall have been approved by the affirmative action of the governing body, and three copies thereof shall have been filed with the Municipal Clerk, said rules so adopted and filed shall become a part of this chapter the same as though printed in full herein.

(1999 Code, § 3-912)

Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure or remove any tomb, monument or gravestone placed in the cemeteries, or any fence, railing or other work for the protection or ornamentation of the cemeteries, or who shall willfully destroy, cut, break or injure any tree, shrub or plant shall be deemed to be guilty of an offense.

(Neb. RS 28-512; 1999 Code, § 3-913)

(A)  Any person, or any person’s agent or servant, who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, unless otherwise specifically provided herein, shall be deemed guilty of an offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $500. A new violation shall be deemed to have been committed every 24 hours of failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter.

(B)  (1)    Whenever a nuisance exists as defined in this chapter, the municipality may proceed by a suit in equity to enjoin, abate and remove the same in the manner provided by law.

(2)   Whenever, in any action, it is established that a nuisance exists, the court may, together with the fine or penalty imposed, enter an order of abatement as a part of the judgment in the case.

(Neb. RS 17-505, 18-1720, 18-1722; 1999 Code, § 3-1001; Ord. 744)