Broadcaster Fall 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Procedures for the New Lot Reclamation Law from the NYS Division of Cemeteries click here
President’s Message click here
NYSAC 2006 REGIONAL MAINTENANCE SEMINARS click here
GOVERNMENT & LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORT - October - 2005 click here
Consider Growth Stocks for Price Appreciation click here
In Memoriam click here
Partnering to Save Lives click here
Please mark your calendars!! click here
WIN A $200 GIFT CARD click here
Modified Total Return Procedures click here
St. Michael’s Hosts 9/11 Ceremony click here
Procedures for the New Lot Reclamation Law from the NYS Division of Cemeteries
In this issue you will find valuable information you may wish to save for future reference:
* Procedures and forms from the Division to help you apply to use capital gains from your Permanent Maintenance Fund
* New ECI rate is 3.1.
* New dates for next fall’s Annual Conference at the Hershey Hotel
* A complete listing of this year’s NYSAC Board and Committee assignments, complete with phone numbers.
President’s Message
Dear Members,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as President of our Association. I would also like to congratulate all our new Officers and Directors and welcome two new Board Members, Daniel Austin of Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery of Queens and Ken Taylor of Green-Wood Cemetery of Brooklyn.
Being a member of our Association has many benefits. Those who attended our 77th Annual Conference at the Sagamore were treated to a diverse and informative program which covered topics that affect all of our cemeteries. We had time to visit our supplier members and other Cemeterians. We should thank Rick Touchette for a job well done.
At our next meeting of the Association in Albany, Frank Giglio, the Public Affairs Committee and our lobbyists will do an excellent job of keeping us informed on legal and legislative issues. It’s an important session, and I encourage all of you to attend next May.
Aside from our meetings, the Officers, Directors, Committees and our Executive Director and her staff are willing to assist members whenever they are called upon.
I urge all members to use the Broadcaster to check for meeting dates, committees and other articles and information.
I would like to thank Joe Dispenza for his outstanding dedication to our Association as President and for helping me in the coming year. Also special thanks to Beth Seme and her staff.
Very truly yours,
Harry Caretsky
NYSAC 2006 REGIONAL MAINTENANCE SEMINARS
The New York State Association of Cemeteries (NYSAC) will convene regional maintenance seminars in
conjunction with the New York State Turfgrass Association (NYSTA) regional conferences in February
and March 2006.
On Monday, February 27, 2006, NYSAC will conduct two afternoon breakout sessions starting at 1:15 at the NYSTA Southeast Regional Conference to be held at the Holiday Inn in Suffern, NY. Both one-hour sessions will continue to feature a direct exchange of ideas between superintendents and will attempt to focus on selected topics of concern raised at last year’s seminar. Attendees are welcome to participate in the 8:30 a.m. general session featuring an industry legislative and regulatory update and New York State DEC report on new regulations and common violations as well as any of the NYSTA breakout and trade show sessions. NYSAC will be contacting those cemeteries in the southeast region with additional information prior to the conference.
On Monday, March 6, 2006, NYSAC will conduct one afternoon breakout session between 2:30 and 3:30 at the NYSTA Western Regional Conference to be held at the Buffalo-Niagara Marriott in Amherst, NY. Gino Merendino of Merendino Cemetery Care has preliminarily agreed to moderate a roundtable-style discussion of cemetery maintenance issues between cemetery superintendents and managers from those cemeteries in and around the Buffalo area. Attendees are also welcome to participate in the 8:00 a.m. general session featuring a NYS DEC regulatory update as well as any of the NYSTA breakout and trade show sessions. Cemeteries in the Buffalo region will be receiving additional information regarding the NYSTA program and NYSAC breakout session prior to the conference.
The NYSTA Adirondack Regional Conference will be held on Thursday, March 30, 2006 at the Crown Plaza Lake Placid Resort & Golf Club. NYSAC is seeking NYSTA approval for a cemetery maintenance breakout session at this conference and will contact those cemeteries in the Adirondack region with information if approval is granted.
GOVERNMENT & LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORT - October - 2005
The 2005 legislative session is winding down. The Committee along with Featherstonhaugh, Wiley,
Clyne & Cordo, LLP, are working diligently on behalf of the members of the New York State
Association of Cemeteries. A special thanks to David Fleming for his efforts during a difficult legislative session. The following are bills that are being closely monitored:
A) Crematory Bill-A.6327-Brodsky/S.4547-Leibell; This bill would require a cemetery corporation seeking to act as a crematory to obtain approval from the state cemetery board and also further regulate their operations. The Senate version was reported to Committee on Rules and the Assembly version was reported to Third Reading.
B) Abandoned Cemetery Bill-A.6209-Brodsky/S.4537-Leibell; This legislation would permit a solvent cemetery corporation to assume responsibility for the maintenance of an abandoned cemetery and make funds available from the state cemetery fund. The Senate version has passed the Senate. The Assembly version is in Ways & Means.
C) Winter Burial Bill-S.3305-Wright/A.6529-Destito; This bill would require cemeteries to be open for burials all year or face a fine for failing to do so. The bills are in Committees on Corporations
D) Burial Receipts Amendment-S.3007-Spanos/A.5488-Brodsky; This amendment simplifies the original bill. The bills were signed by the Governor as Chapter 198 of 2005
E) Other Legislation – Brodsky/Leibell
1) A.7822-S.5237 – Protection against corporate financial fraud and abuse
2) A.7823-S.5236 – Constitutes class E felony to knowingly remove an interred body without permission
3) A.7825-S.5235 – Protection against corporate fraud and abuse
I would like to thank all of our members and suppliers for their generous support of this year’s Legal Fund drive. Without your support, we could not pursue our goals.
Frank F. Giglio
Chairman
Consider Growth Stocks for Price Appreciation
By: Joseph P. Lizzio, CFP, CIMA, Senior Vice President, Morgan Stanley
Growth stocks provide a way to invest now in companies that may be poised for future success. While
investors seeking regular dividend payments may wish to invest in income stocks, growth stock
investing is a good choice for investors seeking share price appreciation. Rather than pay out sizable dividends, growth companies typically reinvest their earnings back into the business. Thus, growth companies’ revenues and earnings are expected to increase more rapidly, which generally leads to share price appreciation. For a growth investor, current income is less important than a company’s continued growth.
Emerging-growth companies are smaller and less well-capitalized than the average growth company. As they become larger, many emerging growth companies cannot sustain their initial, very rapid rates of growth. Investors in emerging growth companies must have high risk tolerance and be willing to accept greater portfolio volatility than those who invest in income stocks or regular growth stocks.
Growth stocks frequently trade at price-to-earnings ratios that are significantly higher than those of the market as a whole. In other words, investors pay a substantial premium for stocks considered to offer above-average earnings growth potential. One of the challenges faced by growth stock investors is that it is often difficult to forecast earnings accurately. As a result, growth stocks tend to have extreme up-and-down price fluctuations if projected earnings are exceeded or if earnings are disappointing versus estimates.
Monitoring Growth Stocks
Investors usually want to review their growth stock holdings regularly to make sure the companies’ prospects continue to justify premium price-earnings ratios. Often, by the time growth opportunities are recognized by the general public, stock prices have been driven up and price-to-earnings ratios are no longer as attractive. As a result, the potential for further appreciation decreases.
In general, you should only consider growth stock investing if you are more interested in share price appreciation than income. If you are a conservative equity investor, you can participate in growth stocks by staying with high quality blue-chip names. If you’re an aggressive investor, you can seek out opportunities among the smaller emerging-growth companies.
If you would like more information, please contact the author, Joe Lizzio, at 516-683-3183.
In Memoriam
In the past few months, we have lost both a New York cemeterian and a supplier to our industry. If you
know of others, please let us know because we would like to pay tribute to them in future issues of The
Broadcaster. Send the information to Andrea Vittum by email (andrea.vittum@choiceonemail.com) or fax (585-381-5252).
Nick Vislocky, superintendent of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, died on September 25, 2005 at the age of 53. He had been with Green-Wood for 35 years, working his way up from groundskeeper to superintendent. An active member of our association, Nick was well-known to many of us and will truly be missed at future meetings. Nick is survived by his wife, Marie, and two children.
Cheryl Neuberger, president and owner of Acclaim Artisans in Vero Beach, Florida, died on July 17, 2005 at the age of 48. Cheryl designed artwork for churches and cemeteries and her magnificent stained glass windows, columbariums and features can be found nationwide, as well as in many New York cemeteries. Small of stature, but full of creative energy, Cheryl will be missed by many. She is survived by her husband, Arthur, her mother, grandmother, brothers and a sister.
Partnering to Save Lives
The State University of Buffalo and Upstate New York Transplant Services, Inc. have received a three year grant to collaborate with cemeteries to distribute information on saving lives through organ and tissue donation. Dr. Ralph Klicker, who heads the project and his team, will supply training to cemetery personnel on organ and tissue donation. The cemetery staff will present a packet of information to individuals making cemetery pre-need arrangements.
The packets will include a specially designed brochure and survey. The individuals will be asked to read the brochure, complete the survey and send the survey to the University. As an incentive for completing the survey, each person will be sent a $10.00 Visa card. All information is kept confidential and the families will not be contacted by anyone about donation. We are looking for cemeteries throughout New York State to participate.
Joseph Dispenza of Forest-Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo took part in a pilot project and said, “The UNYTS Questionnaire Program was a wonderful service we were able to offer our lot owners and all of our pre-need customers. Our marketing team found that it afforded them the opportunity to contact previous customers with a bit of valuable information, as well as to re-kindle relationships with the family.”
He continued by saying, “Of the hundreds of questionnaires we gave out to our Forest Lawn families, not one had a complaint or issue with the program. As a matter of fact, many of our families called us, asking if their relatives could participate. I encourage all of you to call for information on this program and to participate at whatever level you can.”
Jan Howard, Human Resource Director at Forest Lawn said, “The project was a breeze to administer. What a great experience we had and I hope you will take the opportunity to partner to save lives.”
Betty Boyd, the Corporate Trainer and Sales Consultant for Pre-Need and At-Need at Forest Lawn said, “I find that the New York Transplant Service survey is very helpful for me with my pre-planning discussion with families. Many families are unaware of transplant options. I have sent the information with surveys to my families and they in turn tell others about what they have learned. This is a good tool for me to help educate others and to help save lives.”
If you are interested in more information, please call Dr. Ralph Klicker at 716-566-3941, or email at rklicker@unyts.org.
Please mark your calendars!!
Please make (or change) your hotel reservations now!!
Due to a conflict with the Catholic Cemetery Conference, we had to move the dates of next
fall’s conference to Oct. 14 - 18. Since registration forms with the original dates of the
conference were distributed at the Sagamore, please check to see if you already made your reservations. If so, please change them ASAP!!!!
If you have not already made plans to attend next fall’s conference, please do so now. We need as many cemeteries and suppliers as possible to take advantage of the Hershey Hotel’s early registration plan by April 1, 2006. If we do not have enough reservations by that time, your Association will need to risk its funds to cover minimum revenue requirements in our contract!!! So please use the forms on the following pages to make your reservation now. Thank you!
WIN A $200 GIFT CARD
Don’t forget! If you register by April 1, 2006 for the 78th NYSAC Annual Fall Conference at The Hotel Hershey you will be entered into a drawing to win a $200 Barnes & Noble Gift Card. The gift card was donated to NYSAC by Merendino Cemetery Care.
Modified Total Return Procedures
Procedures from the New York State Division of Cemeteries on how you can use this new legislation that was spear-headed by NYSAC.
Recently enacted legislation now allows cemeteries to withdraw part of their capital gains from their Permanent Maintenance Fund if certain conditions are met. To briefly summarize the new law, a cemetery may be able to withdraw 60% of the average of the previous three years capital gains, both realized and unrealized if the market value of their P/M assets have grown faster than the consumer price index for that same period.
There are two steps that must be completed to determine if you can take capital gains from the P/M Fund. You must first determine the “Historic Dollar Value” of your P/M Fund on a yearly basis. You start with the market value of your P/M Fund on 1/1/2002. Multiply this number by the Consumer Price Index. This can be found on the internet at Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website: “www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm”. There are more than one CPI- we require use of the “CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). To the resulting number, add required additions and subtract allowable deductions. You now have calculated the “adjusted historical dollar value” as of December 31st, 2002. This number will become the beginning number for calculating the historical dollar cost for 2003. Repeat the steps above for the years 2003 and 2004. (See form titled “Adjusted Historical Dollar Value (PM Fund) Trust Principal”.)
In the “Example of the Modified Total Return Pay-Out Calculation” (on this page) we have created an example of how the pay-out would work. The importance of the Historical Dollar Cost is that it establishes a floor for anyone using the modified total return. If the historical dollar cost is greater than the market value in the last year of the 3 year calculation, no pay-out can be made. In our example the market value (figured) at the end of 2004 is $98,200 while the historical dollar cost is $75,388.71. The pay-out was calculated to be $5,600, the market value would be reduced to $92,600 after the pay-out. If the historical dollar cost at the end of 2004 was $95,000, the amount of pay-out would be limited. Even though the pay-out calculation of $5,600 has not changed, the pay-out is limited to $3,200. This is because the market value cannot be reduced below the historical dollar cost as a result of a pay-out.
The second step you must complete is determining your capital gains, both realized and unrealized. Your realized capital gains should be easy. Most of the time you can rely on the year-end statements from your financial institution to show correct capital gains. Many cemeteries maintain spreadsheets of their assets and track their own capital gains (losses). Unrealized capital gains (losses) for each year is determined by subtracting the cost value of the assets from the market value of the assets at the beginning of the year to arrive at a “beginning unrealized capital gain (loss). Do the same thing for the end of the year to arrive at an “ending unrealized capital gain (loss). Then subtract the “beginning unrealized capital gain (loss) from the “ending unrealized capital gain (loss). The result is your unrealized capital gain (loss) for the year. (See form titled “Net Appreciation – (of Securities Comprising PM Principal”.)
In our example we show an unrealized capital gain of $4,300 for the year 2002. Shown on our example is our portfolio for the year 2002. As you can see on the bottom of the page, we started the year 2002 with an unrealized capital gain of $34,400 and ended the year with an unrealized capital gain of $38,700. Our gain for the year was determined by subtracting the beginning unrealized gain from the ending unrealized gain.
After you determine your unrealized and realized capital gains for each year, add the numbers together and divide the total by 3 to get the average of the three years. Then multiply that number by 60% to determine the payout you can take. (See form titled “Guidelines for Calculation of Maximum Allowable Annual Appropriation of Net Appreciation”.)
You still cannot just take the money! You must get approval to take the funds from the NYS Cemetery Board. In your application you must show the calculations you used to determine your pay-out amount (one of our accountants will have to audit your calculations). Also enclose an explanation why you are requesting the pay-out.
One last thing. What are the additions and subtractions to the historical dollar value anyway? The additions are: PM allocations for lot sales for the current year, the $35 interment surcharge, proceeds of sales from cemetery land, bequests that clearly state that income only can be spent on general care of the cemetery, contributions designated to the PM fund and voluntary PM additions approved by the Cemetery’s Board of Directors. There probably are others, but you get the idea.
On the subtraction side, we can only think of one- an outright grant of PM principal approved by the NYS Supreme Court. That being said, there might be others.
Example of the 2004 Market Value PDF | Excel
Adjusted Historical Dollar Value (PM Fund) Trust Principal PDF | MS Word
Securities Comprising PM Principal PDF | MS Word
Guidelines for Calculation of Maximum Allowable Annual Appropriation of Net Appreciation PDF | MS Word
Dec. 2001 PDF
Dec. 2002 PDF
Dec. 2003 PDF
Dec. 2004 PDF
St. Michael’s Hosts 9/11 Ceremony
September 10th, 2005 was a sparkling day of blue skies with an occasional cloud floating by. The beauty of the weather was in some ways a reincarnation of that awful day of September 11, 2001.
Assembled at St. Michael’s Cemetery were 200 grieving family members, many current firefighters, politicians and community leaders to remember the 76 Queens Firefighters who died at the Towers. The ceremony was held in the shadow of the only monument in the borough honoring the 76. Fire trucks were drawn in line forming a dramatic backdrop for the ceremony.
Last year The 9/11 Queens Firefighters Memorial was dedicated at St. Michael’s Cemetery. The chain to last year grew another link as Tony Barsamian of the Queens Gazette led the ceremony. Congressman Joseph Crowley spoke of his cousin Chief Moran who perished at the Towers, while promising to be present every year to honor the Queens Firefighters. Speaking also were Assemblyman Michael Ginnaris and Councilman John Liu.
The Rev. Canon George Brandt, Rector of St. Michael’s Church welcomed those in attendance and offered the Invocation. Chief Alexander and Maureen Santora spoke on behalf of the families of the Queens Firefighters and for their son, Christopher Santora, one of the youngest NYFD members to have died at the Towers. The Uniformed Firefighters Association was represented by Stephen Humenesky, who spoke of the 76 as “good” firefighters, the highest praise one fireman can bestow upon another.
The memorial service concluded in All Souls Chapel to witness a pictorial presentation of the individuals who are memorialized upon the monument at St. Michael’s. With haunting music the names of each firefighter appeared followed by his photograph. The reality of their loss cut to the soul. No one was unmoved. Each person in attendance shared in the loss of each of the 76.