Update #3: Why would Fair View Cemetery want to build a Crematorium in Middletown?
The information in this update was obtained through OPRA requests. All of the information in this update is public record and is from the latest available Public Domain IRS 990 Filings from 2013 to 2017.
Fair View Cemetery’s Board of Directors consists of eight people. There is a Superintendent, one President, a Vice President, a Secretary-Treasurer and four other Trustee members. The cemetery has all of legal documents and meet all legal responsibilities for a non-profit cemetery in New Jersey. All members of the Board have been elected and all official business has been properly conducted. But, after an examination of public documents, there are Board Members or members of their family are on the payroll for Fair View Cemetery. Below is a screen shot of the documentation.
This comes directly from the 2017 1099 filing. For the five people listed above, their total annual compensation for 2017 totaled $177,530. This represents 42% of the total salaries paid by Fair View Cemetery to its employees. The total employee salary expenditure for 2017 was $423,640. So, basically, of the 12 Fair View Cemetery employees, five employees are family members of the Fair View Cemetery Board of Directors, including one spouse. Additionally, one of the Board Members is the attorney for the Cemetery and compensated for their services. Futhermore, another member owns a business where the supplies needed for the cemetery are purchased.
Could it be that the Fair View Cemetery Board Members want to personally benefit from building a crematorium in Middletown?
There is nothing illegal in nepotism for a non-profit organization, however, it should not come at a cost to the health, welfare and quality of life to the residents of Middletown and surrounding neighborhoods.
Fair View Cemetery has filed multiple applications for a double chamber crematorium, capable of burning four to five bodies per day, per chamber. A total of eight to ten bodies per day. This is based upon documentation from the manufacturer of the equipment Fair View Cemetery plans to use. In other words, at maximum capacity, for a 12 hour burn day, which the permits they requested allowed, Fair View Cemetery could legally burn up to 10 bodies a day. That is for 300 burn days a year, as per the permit they filed for. That would be, at most, 3,000 bodies every year.
Now, time for some quick calculations to show that this is a pure revenue play for a non-profit. In New Jersey, according to the National Crematory Association, cremation fees range from as low as $500 to as high as $1,000 per body burned. If Fair View Cemetery burns six bodies a day at $500 per body for 300 burn days, that is a total revenue of $900,000. This is on the low end of estimates and charges for services. At $750 per burn for eight bodies a day, total revenue would be $1,800,000 per year. At maximum capacity, which is ten bodies per day, for 300 days, at $1000 per body, Fair View Cemetery would generate $3,000,000 in revenue.
In 2017, according to their 1099 filing, Fair View Cemetery’s total revenue was $694,323, so the new crematoriums would vastly increase the annual revenue of this non-profit organization. Considering this information, one must ask, what is the real motivation behind building a two chamber crematorium surrounding by homes, schools, recreational areas, sensitive natural areas and thousands of children?
