M'burgh to Budget for Cemetery Trees

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - The Village of Middleburgh owns the cemetery off of upper Main Street. The village is one of the few municipalities in the state to own its own cemetery.

Owning a cemetery comes with many responsibilities including the care of the many trees in the cemetery.

For this year, the village received a generous grant to help pay for the removal of several dead or dying trees in the cemetery. Funeral director Matt Coltrain of the Coltrain Funeral Home is donating $7,200 for the removal of several "dead, dying, or damaged" trees in the cemetery.

At their August 4 meeting, village board members discussed yearly maintenance of the trees in the cemetery.

DPW street Superintendent Cole Keyser said that the village has to think about safety and the damage a falling tree can do to equipment and headstones.

"There's a lot of big trees there," he said.

Trustee Bob Tinker noted that a large tree near the entrance of the cemetery has some dead limbs. The estimates were $2,000 to trim the limbs and $5,800 to take down the tree. Two other spruces that are about 100 feet tall will cost about $6,500 to remove because they are tough to get to.

"We're getting there but there's so many big trees," he said. Some diseased pines may need to be cut nest year.

The village plans to dedicate $5,000 to $6,000 in the budget each year for tree removal. Some funds could be used from the perpetual care fund.

The town plans on taking down trees along Llama Lane to make snow removal easier

Mr. Coltrain, a funeral director, said he knows what danger the old trees are to the village cemetery and village officials were very thankful for the donation last month.

The village received a quote from Pridemark of Schoharie. The quote is $2,500 for a triple pine, $2,700 for four cedar trees in a cluster, $1,300 for a cedar trees with woodpecker holes, and $700 for a double cedar split. Village officials approved the bid. The village may need to pay another $400 to remove another cedar near the road.