The governing body of any county or municipality may provide for the restoration, maintenance and preservation of any historic cemetery located within its borders. As used in this act “historic cemetery” means a cemetery not owned by the State, a county, municipality, or religious corporation or association, in which are interred the remains of prominent citizens or residents of the State or of the Colony of East Jersey or the Colony of West Jersey, or veterans of the Colonial Wars, the War of Independence, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, or World War I, in which not more than 10% of the interments have been made after 1880, in which no interment has been made for 50 years, and for which no funds are available for regular maintenance or preservation.

a. The governing body of a county may annually appropriate an amount not to exceed $10,000.00 for the restoration, maintenance and preservation of historic cemeteries located within its borders; provided, however, that no governing body shall expend annually an amount in excess of $500.00 to restore, maintain or preserve any one cemetery.

b. The governing body of a municipality may annually appropriate an amount not to exceed $3,000.00 for the restoration, maintenance and preservation of historic cemeteries located within its borders; provided, however, that no governing body shall expend annually an amount in excess of $500.00 to restore, maintain or preserve any one cemetery.

L.1983, c. 294, s. 3, eff. Aug. 4, 1983.