(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that his administration is awarding state grants to 37 municipalities across Connecticut for the purposes of providing maintenance to neglected cemeteries.
“Cemeteries are solemn places, and taking care of them is essential to respecting those who have passed and preserving the heritage of our communities,” Governor Lamont said. “Our local cemeteries are the final resting places of veterans, local leaders, and ancestors of current town residents. Maintaining them helps to ensure that the deceased are remembered in a respectful manner.”
The grants, totaling $8,000 each, are being released under the state’s Neglected Cemetery Account Grant Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM). Established in 2014, this program is funded from revenue collected by the Connecticut Department of Public Health through the issuance of death certificates. To be eligible for a grant, towns and cities must have submitted an application to OPM.
Grants can be used by the municipalities to support basic maintenance of cemeteries, including the clearing of weeds, briars, and bushes; mowing of the ground’s lawn areas; repairing the ground’s fences or walls; and straightening, repairing, and restoring memorial stones.
The following municipalities have been selected to receive a grant under this application round, contingent upon the successful submission and approval of required contractual documents:
- Andover
- Berlin
- Bethel
- Bloomfield
- Branford
- Canaan
- Canterbury
- Chester
- Darien
- Eastford
- Easton
- Glastonbury
- Granby
- Greenwich
- Groton
- Guilford
- Haddam
- Harwinton
- Ledyard
- Marlborough
- Middlefield
- New Canaan
- New Milford
- Newington
- Plymouth
- Redding
- Ridgefield
- Roxbury
- Salisbury
- Seymour
- Southington
- Stonington
- Thompson
- Tolland
- Union
- Vernon
- Waterford