Counties, anywhere within the county boundaries, and municipalities, anywhere within the municipal boundaries, are authorized, jointly and severally, to preserve and protect any abandoned cemetery or any burial ground which the county or municipality determines has been abandoned or is not being maintained by the person who is legally responsible for its upkeep, whether or not that person is financially capable of doing so, to expend public money in connection therewith, to provide for reimbursement of such funds by billing any legally responsible person or levying upon any of his property as authorized by local ordinance, and to exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire any interest in land necessary for that purpose.
(Code 1981, §36-72-3, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 924, § 3; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2508, § 2.)
Law reviews.- For annual survey article discussing local government law, see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 397 (1999).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Duty of county.
- O.C.G.A. § 36-72-3 authorizes but does not compel a county to preserve and protect abandoned cemeteries. Smith v. Pulaski County, 269 Ga. 688, 501 S.E.2d 213 (1998).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERALPersons sentenced to community service may be utilized to assist counties or municipalities in the care of abandoned cemeteries or burial grounds. 1999 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U99-5.