Washington County Burial Allowance and Grave Markers

The duties are the State's, under 16 Pa.C.S. Chapter 155; see the Pennsylvania entry on county burial and grave benefits. The Veterans Affairs Office certifies the applications, and the county's Purchasing Department buys what the county supplies. Burial allowance. The county's own "Burial Allowance, Service Person or Widow or Widower" form says it outright: the funeral director's affidavit certifies that "the $75.00 allowance has or will be applied to the decedents account", and the payment goes out on the three commissioners' warrant. The form asks for the veteran's service and discharge details, the wartime service and residence at death, and is available in a veteran version and a widow-or-widower version on the department's common forms page. Apply within one year of the death, as sections 15509 and 15510 require. Grave markers. The county does not leave the marker duty to the statutory allowance: it buys markers on a yearly bid that Purchasing extends on behalf of Veterans Affairs. The bid for furnishing and installing markers went to All Quality Memorial Markers of Smoketown, at an estimated $15,000 a year for 2025-2026 (extended March 6, 2025) and an estimated $16,000 a year for 2026-2027 (extended February 19, 2026). A July 16, 2026 addendum fixed the unit prices: $15.30 per cast aluminum marker with a bronze powder coating and $5.25 per support rod, shipping free on the annual order but chargeable if more than one order is needed, through February 28, 2027. The county also lists a "County Headstone Allowance" form on its common forms page, named without a download; the headstone duty under section 15513, which covers the base for a federal headstone and the lettering on an existing memorial at actual cost, runs alongside this contract.