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Cemetery upkeep deal reached

The county and Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg agree to let the diocese take over maintenance and control trust fund proceeds.

The graves finally will be kept clear of trash; dignity will be restored to West Elfers Cemetery.

That's the promise from the county and Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, joint owners of the property, after a deal brokered between them Wednesday.

Under the agreement, maintenance responsibility and control of proceeds from a quarter-million-dollar trust fund would be transferred to the diocese from AmSouth Bank, which ended maintenance earlier this year citing a lack of funds.

If approved by a judge with oversight of the trust fund, the diocese said it won't allow maintenance to stop again.

"Hopefully it will bring a little peace of mind up there," Monsignor Norman Balthazar, director of cemeteries for the diocese, said Thursday.

The 130-year-old cemetery sits on 3 acres west of U.S. 19 and was owned and managed by Richard Milbauer until his death in 1981.

At that point, a $100,000 trust fund was left for maintenance, and the 1.21-acre Catholic portion was deeded to the diocese; the remainder went to the county.

Although the proceeds have grown to $268,228, the trust produces only $433 per month to support maintenance. That isn't enough to pay $500 charged by the maintenance crew, AmSouth said.

So the bank ended service in the spring, beginning a dispute between all three parties over who was ultimately responsible for upkeep.

Until the bank organized a cleanup by volunteer employees in September, an old mattress, discarded carpet, window screens and pieces of wood trim were among the items abandoned on the overgrown grass.

Finally, the diocese took over maintenance responsibilities for the entire cemetery without compensation since the bank cleanup.

The deal brokered between Balthazar and County Administrator John Gallagher this week is designed to make one entity responsible for the cemetery going forward.

"Everybody thought it was going to the county. I don't know who (the people at the diocese) are or what their intentions are," said Susan Cooper Henry, whose mother and father-in-law are in the county-owned portion of the cemetery. She plans to be buried there herself.

"I suppose this is progress."

Garrett Therolf covers Pasco County Government. He can be reached at 727 869-6232 or at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232. His e-mail address is gtherolf@sptimes.com