Cass County Veterans’ Relief Fund and county burials

Cass County keeps its own Veterans’ Relief Fund, Fund 293, whose Dept 682 Veterans’ Counselor carries a 119,815 FY2026 appropriation and a 2,000 fund-balance transfer adopted October 1, 2026, and whose Dept 681 pays the county’s 300.00 veterans’ burials and 495.00 markers through the year under MCL 35.21 and 35.801.

Also called: Veterans Relief Fund, Fund 293, veterans counselor, Veterans’ Burials, Dept 681, Dept 682, MCL 35.21, MCL 35.801, burial, marker, budget adjustment, M-147-2026, Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg, Marcellus, Vandalia, Jones, Union, Decatur.

For: Veteran or service member, survivor.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

Cass County, MICounty

The relief fund is the county's own; the statute is MCL 35.21 and the Michigan entry on county veterans relief describes it. Cass County carries it as Fund 293, VETERANS' RELIEF FUND, with the Dept 682 Veterans' Counselor as its spending department: the January 22, 2026 agenda packet shows "682 - VETERANS' COUNSELOR 30,890.84 119,815.00 119,815.00" - a 119,815.00 FY2026 appropriation - and the year's packets run per diems and travel for the Veterans Services Board through the same department (Gary Gravit, Sr., Kenneth Lebeda and Chris Bergen among the claimants). The Board keeps the fund topped up: the October 1, 2026 consent agenda carried "M-147-2026 - Motion to approve budget adjustment for Veterans Relief Fund", whose financial analysis moves 2,000 from 293-000-699.050 (fund balance allocation) to 293-682-960.000 (Veterans' Counselor); the October 1 minutes record the motion carried. The burials sit beside it in the general fund: the September 3, 2026 packet's FY2027 request line for "681 VETERANS' BURIALS" asks 10,000 against 5,012 spent in FY2026 to that date, and the October 15, 2026 packet shows the year at 3,152.00 spent of the 6,000.00 appropriation with the month's 300.00 burial paid. The burials. Dept 681 pays the county's veterans' burial allowance - the MCL 35.801 duty the State entry describes - at 300.00 a payment through the year: "VETERANS COUNTY BURIAL - CLARK R CHERYL J. CLARK ... 300.00" (November 6, 2025), "VETERANS BURIAL - LAWSON, R ... 300.00" and "VETERANS BURIAL- BEARD, R ... 300.00" (August 13, 2026) and "VETERANS BURIAL - SHETERON, TEX NANCY SHETERON ... 300.00" (October 1, 2026); it also pays 495.00 for a veterans marker ("VETERANS MARKER - MOSE, E ... MISSION HILLS MEMORIAL GARDENS", March 5, 2026) and passes the Veterans Foundation's help along ("VETERANS FOUNDATION, SCHULTZ, KEN ST", March 5, 2026; "VETS FOUNDATION - GORHAM, M ... CITY OF DOWAGIAC ... 115.20", July 2, 2026).

Thresholds

Thresholds for Cass County Veterans’ Relief Fund and county burials
Gate	Rule
Indigent Cass County veteran or qualifying dependent; wartime veterans’ burials	The relief fund statute’s own categories (MCL 35.21) and the burial allowance (MCL 35.801) govern; the county sets its amounts in the budget. The rating filter never hides this entry.

Sources

Updated

Last updated 2026-10-30.

What changed then:

First published.

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Disclaimer

VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.