12-101. Wyuka Cemetery; declared a public charitable corporation; powers; trustees; appointment; terms; vacancies; reports; retirement plan reports; duties.

(1) The cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska, known as Wyuka Cemetery, is hereby declared to be a public charitable corporation. The general control and management of the affairs of such cemetery shall be vested in a board of three trustees until July 1, 2009, and thereafter shall be vested in a board of five trustees. The trustees shall serve without compensation and shall be a body corporate to be known as Wyuka Cemetery, with power to sue and be sued, to contract and to be contracted with, and to acquire, hold, and convey both real and personal property for all purposes consistent with the provisions of sections 12-101 to 12-105, and shall have the power of eminent domain to be exercised in the manner provided in section 12-201.

(2) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall have the power, by resolution duly adopted by a majority vote, to authorize one of their number to sign a petition for paving, repaving, curbing, recurbing, grading, changing grading, guttering, resurfacing, relaying existing pavement, or otherwise improving any street, streets, alley, alleys, or public ways or grounds abutting cemetery property. When such improvements have been ordered, the trustees shall pay, from funds of the cemetery, such special taxes or assessments as may be properly determined.

(3) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall be appointed by the Governor of the State of Nebraska at the expiration of each trustee's term of office. The two trustees appointed for their initial terms of office beginning July 1, 2009, shall be appointed by the Governor to serve a five-year term and a six-year term, respectively. Thereafter, each of the five trustees shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of six years. In the event of a vacancy occurring among the members of the board, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, and such appointment shall continue for the unexpired term.

(4) The board of trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall file with the Auditor of Public Accounts, on or before the second Tuesday in June of each year, an itemized report of all the receipts and expenditures in connection with its management and control of the cemetery.

(5) The trustees of Wyuka Cemetery shall have the power to provide, in their discretion, retirement benefits for present and future employees of the cemetery, and to establish, participate in, and administer plans for the benefit of its employees or its employees and their dependents, which may provide disability, hospitalization, medical, surgical, accident, sickness and life insurance coverage, or any one or more coverages, and which shall be purchased from a corporation or corporations authorized and licensed by the Department of Insurance.

(6) Beginning December 31, 1998, through December 31, 2017:

(a) The trustees shall file with the Public Employees Retirement Board an annual report on each retirement plan established pursuant to this section and section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code and shall submit copies of such report to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The Auditor of Public Accounts may prepare a review of such report pursuant to section 84-304.02 but is not required to do so. The annual report shall be in a form prescribed by the Public Employees Retirement Board and shall contain the following information for each such retirement plan:

(i) The number of persons participating in the retirement plan;

(ii) The contribution rates of participants in the plan;

(iii) Plan assets and liabilities;

(iv) The names and positions of persons administering the plan;

(v) The names and positions of persons investing plan assets;

(vi) The form and nature of investments;

(vii) For each defined contribution plan, a full description of investment policies and options available to plan participants; and

(viii) For each defined benefit plan, the levels of benefits of participants in the plan, the number of members who are eligible for a benefit, and the total present value of such members' benefits, as well as the funding sources which will pay for such benefits.

If a plan contains no current active participants, the trustees may file in place of such report a statement with the Public Employees Retirement Board indicating the number of retirees still drawing benefits, and the sources and amount of funding for such benefits; and

(b) If such retirement plan is a defined benefit plan which was open to new members on January 1, 2004, in addition to the reports required by section 13-2402, the trustees shall cause to be prepared an annual report and shall file the same with the Public Employees Retirement Board and the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee of the Legislature and submit to the Auditor of Public Accounts a copy of such report. The Auditor of Public Accounts may prepare a review of such report pursuant to section 84-304.02 but is not required to do so. If the trustees do not submit a copy of the report to the Auditor of Public Accounts within six months after the end of the plan year, the Auditor of Public Accounts may audit, or cause to be audited, Wyuka Cemetery. All costs of the audit shall be paid by Wyuka Cemetery. The report shall consist of a full actuarial analysis of each such retirement plan established pursuant to this section. The analysis shall be prepared by an independent private organization or public entity employing actuaries who are members in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries, and which organization or entity has demonstrated expertise to perform this type of analysis and is unrelated to any organization offering investment advice or which provides investment management services to the retirement plan. The report to the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee shall be submitted electronically.

Source

Annotations

This section authorizes Wyuka Cemetery to sell personal property so closely connected to its cemetery operation as grave markers and monuments. Speidell Monuments v. Wyuka Cemetery, 242 Neb. 134, 493 N.W.2d 336 (1992).

Wyuka Cemetery is a body politic and corporate, and legacy to it is subject to inheritance tax. In re Estate of Rudge, 114 Neb. 335, 207 N.W. 520 (1926).