Oak Grove Cemetery given reprieve from tax sale
The Fayette County Tax Claim Bureau is removing Oak Grove Cemetery from Monday’s tax sale on the advice of the bureau’s solicitor.
Two weeks ago the cemetery’s board of directors had appeared before the Fayette County Tax Assessment Appeals Board and was granted tax-exempt status starting with the 2014 tax year. In addition to the tax claim bureau, John Cupp serves as the solicitor for the assessment appeals board and for the county commissioners.
“He instructed me to pull the property from the sale because at the hearing they had documentation that it was formed tax-exempt,” said Sarah Thomas, tax claim bureau director.
The Oak Grove Cemetery was founded in 1849 as the Union Cemetery of Fayette County by an act of the state Legislature, which declared the site tax-exempt. It sits along West Main Street and McClellandtown Road in South Union Township, just west of Uniontown.
“We had information that was given to us at the assessment appeal hearing that maybe we shouldn’t have assessed it at all,” Cupp said. “It’s not really a profit-making cemetery, the type of cemetery that should be taxed.”
Cupp said that removing the 15.3-acre cemetery from the tax sale does not mean that the taxes from 2011-13 won’t need to be paid eventually.
“There wasn’t enough time before the tax sale to fully investigate the situation,” Cupp said. “The next step for them is to present their request for exoneration to each of the three taxing bodies.”
Cupp said that it is likely that the county commissioners would be willing to consider a resolution to absolve the taxes owed to the county.
The bulk of the money is owed to the Laurel Highlands School District.
The back taxes to the school district, county and township for 2011 and 2012, with penalties, come to a total of $5,835, according to the tax claim bureau.
Janet Marker, vice president of the cemetery board, said the group is grateful that the cemetery was removed from Monday’s tax sale.
“We sincerely are grateful. This will give us time to reevaluate and handle this situation as quickly as we can,” Marker said.