Dave Fleming is what he calls a "death care" expert. If you have a question about the bureaucratic regulations and laws surrounding someone's final resting place, you turn to Fleming. 

And Fleming is increasingly concerned about a provision in the state law that can leave cemeteries as wards of a local government. It's an area of concern that intersects with his expertise: Fleming is also the Nassau town supervisor. 

"It's widespread across the state of New York and that is really a big concern for municipalities in every segment, every region," he said in an interview. 

The Nassau-Schodack Cemetery in Rensselaer County where we met Fleming on Wednesday is not in danger of being a so-called abandoned cemetery. But many, especially in Upstate New York, are. And they're costing taxpayers big. 

"Pretty much upstate is where we're seeing a significant uptick in abandonments and municipalities that are really struggling with changes in economics and out migration," he said. "So it tends to be more of an upstate issue, but we're seeing abandonments on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and even in cities."

At the same time, more people are choosing to cremate their loved ones, which is also leading to a financial strain for cemeteries. 

"There's an uptick in the cremation rate," he said. "So families are choosing cremation, they're not doing an in-ground burial. If a cemetery is doing revenue planning for a year, that's going to impact them if more people are choosing cremation, and they're not doing burial."

When a cemetery is abandoned that means its non-profit board is no longer overseeing and paying for its maintenance. And that upkeep, like mowing and tree removal, can become expensive. The last time the issue was studied, more than 25 years ago, a cemetery acre can cost thousands of dollars to maintain. 

So what happens to the board members of a cemetery?

"What usually happens in an abandonment is all of the board members become permanent members of a cemetery," Fleming said. 

And that means small towns and villages can be on the hook for looking after the cemetery if no board is there to watch over it. State government has had to bail out two small communities that could not afford the millions of dollars in cemetery expenses.

That cost some local governments millions of dollars, an astronomical sum for rural upstate municipalities. 

Fleming says the law needs to change so cemeteries do not become wards of local government. But family members can and should also become involved. 

"Cemeteries across New York are in desperate need to serve on these boards," he said.