Residents receive cemetery plot refund, say it’s not enough

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Pictured is the entrance to the San Benito Historic City Cemetery. (SBN File Photo)

By DAVID LOPEZ
editor@sbnewspaper.com

More than a year after burying her son at the San Benito Historic City Cemetery, a.k.a. “El Nopal,” April Flores has finally received a refund for the overcharge on the plot.

As reported in the NEWS in early March, Flores was asking the City of San Benito for a refund after discovering the City might have overcharged her for her son’s burial in December 2018.

Flores’s son, Ricardo Treviño III, was shot and killed by San Benito Police after a high-speed chase in December of 2018.

Flores was initially charged $950 for the plot plus $450 for the cement lining. This week, she received a refund check for $700.

Flores said she should have been charged $250 for the plot and should have been offered the choice of selecting the inner lining. Thus, Flores argues that the $700 refund is appropriate for the overcharge on her son’s cemetery plot, but the City still owes her a refund for the cement lining.

However, she is not the only one in a similar situation. Resident Jerry Compean was also refunded $700 this week, though his initial payment for burial at the El Nopal cemetery was a total of $1,500, including the cement lining.

“I should be reimbursed for the total overcharge that I paid for,” said Compean. “They made the cement lining mandatory to pay that extra amount. They threw it in there without letting me know.”

City Manager Manuel De La Rosa replied to inquiries via email, stating only, “The City does not discuss such sensitive matters, including those related to the death of a family’s loved one.”

Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length. To read the full story, click here or make sure to grab a copy of the May 1–30, 2020 issue of the NEWS.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2020/05/01/residents-receive-cemetery-plot-refund-say-its-not-enough/

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    • Jerry Leigh Louis on May 5, 2020 at 3:54 am
    • Reply

    People can still be buried in the historic section, if your family knows the “right” people.

    • RUDE=TRUTHFUL on May 4, 2020 at 12:48 pm
    • Reply

    PAY YOUR TAXES MAYOR. LEAD BY EXAMPLE.

    • Truth hurts. on May 3, 2020 at 6:13 pm
    • Reply

    All this crap has been going on since Hector Jalomo was in charge. He was scamming people. And this mofo is carrying on the torch.
    My relative died 10 years ago.. when she went to prepay her Chosen Lot. With her family. He denied her in the sense of saying that they weren’t allowing ppl to be buried in the old sections. . He was charging her more than what the lots were valued.. and he was offering other lots near Freddie fender..SMH!.

    FOR THOSE THAT BELIEVE OR SUSPECT THEY’VE BEEN overcharged .. speak up.

    When I read about scammers .. I think about this particular one.. how much did he…and his family pocket from taxpayers.. before he retired.

    • MB on May 2, 2020 at 7:56 am
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    Well after today the Mayor and two Commissioners will be known a Carry-Over City Officials. Not Officially Elected just stayed on cause the Pandemic till November.

    • Gilberto Gonzalez on May 1, 2020 at 2:43 pm
    • Reply

    We visited the cemetery to find our family plot. It looks like it was regraded and new plots were made.
    Please inform us where the family remains are. We had our grandparents and our brother buried.

    • Memo RODRIGUEZ on May 1, 2020 at 10:53 am
    • Reply

    All the money that was wrongfully overcharged needs to be returned to the victims. But how could an error like that have happened if the prices are set in black and white by city ordinance. So is anyone going to be held accountable for this overcharging ? Mayor and commission do your duty and investigate the matter don’t just let it go cause some of the money was returned.

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