NC vets’ official ‘crestfallen’ over lack of cemetery funds

The state’s top military affairs official says the General Assembly’s budget doesn’t include enough money to keep open a new veterans cemetery in Goldsboro, which could force the state to repay the federal government for the $5 million it spent to open the facility.

Larry Hall, the secretary of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said Friday that his agency had asked for $200,000 in each of the next two years to continue covering maintenance required by the agreement. The budget also eliminates five positions, which will require the cemetery to be padlocked to prevent vandalism, Hall said.

The secretary said legislative budget writers ignored his requests for the maintenance money.

“We’re trying to find some way to address the need and, at the same time, we’re totally crestfallen about their refusal to provide funding to bury our veterans, especially in a new cemetery and creating a $5 million liability,” Hall said. “I’m not sure why we wouldn’t give one last measure of respect to their loved ones who gave service to this country. We’re really devastated by it.”

Rep. George Cleveland, a Republican from Jacksonville who was on the budget committee that reviewed Hall’s funding requests, said the department has more than $1 million it could use for that purpose.

“There are ample funds in the account to take care of any problems,” Cleveland said.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Cary Republican who is the chief budget writer in the House, said Friday that legislative staff would look into the issue.

The Eastern Carolina State Veterans Cemetery opened to fanfare in 2015 with a visit by then-Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Rep. Walter Jones. At the time, a state veterans affairs official said the grave sites would always be kept “pristine” because of the maintenance agreement.

The federal government had previously agreed to provide a $5.4 million grant to build the cemetery on county-owned land east of Goldsboro, but the project didn’t begin until the state agreed to manage the property and oversee burials. The plots are free to North Carolina veterans and their spouses.

Hall said defaulting on the agreement to keep up the cemetery would make the state subject to having to repay the grant.

There are four military cemeteries in the state; the others are in Spring Lake, Black Mountain and Jacksonville. They average about 30 burials a month. The Goldsboro cemetery has a capacity for about 11,000 graves.

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "NC vets’ official ‘crestfallen’ over lack of cemetery funds."