Rockland Lawmakers Allocate More For Veterans Cemetery Clean Up

NEW CITY, NY — The Rockland County Legislature has added $300,000 to the money set aside this year for work on three county-owned cemeteries for veterans.

"These men and women served our country and we owe it to them to remember their contributions and to provide them with an honorable place of burial,” said Rockland County Legislator Phil Soskin, a U.S. Army veteran. "These local cemeteries need a good sprucing up."

The work will be done at the Frederick W. Loescher and Gary Onderdonk Veterans Memorial Cemeteries in Ramapo, as well as the Rockland County Cemetery, often referred to as Highview Cemetery, in Nanuet. Highview is also a final resting place for the county’s indigent.

The overall project is budgeted at $1.2 million. The Legislature previously authorized $900,000. On Tuesday, members voted unanimously to appropriate the remaining $300,000 through bonding, the customary way the county finances a capital project.

Work on the sites includes roadways, walks, drainage, signage, landscaping, lighting, fencing, plantings, shrubbery and meditation benches, as well as the demolition of existing structures, engineering and surveying services and other jobs.

"The County’s actions will ensure that a proper and dignified place of burial is provided to our veterans and to county residents without family or other resources to pay for a final resting place," Rockland County Legislature Chairman Alden H. Wolfe said.

County Executive Ed Day signed the resolution.

"This longtime effort recognizes that we are losing veterans at a rapid pace," Day told Patch. "Each of these brave men and women has earned the right to rest forever in a place of honor and this slight increase in funding will ensure that final resting place is well cared for by our Facilities staff."