LONDON (RNS) The Anglican Church of Wales is facing off against government authorities over who is responsible for paying for the upkeep of the church’s diminishing number of graveyards.

In a newly issued report, the Welsh church has warned that hundreds of its 1,053 burial grounds will be filled to capacity within the next 10 years and that outside financial help is needed to maintain the ones it has.

But the Welsh Assembly Government, the province’s ruling body, says maintaining burial grounds is the church’s problem, and any alteration “would require a change in legislation.”

The Welsh church wants local and regional governments to take on the work and expense of graveyard maintenance.

While local authorities under existing legislation have the power to assist the Church of Wales, the Welsh Assembly says “there is no obligation upon them to do so.”

The report says two-thirds of its burial grounds will run out of space within the next decade, and 16 million pounds (nearly $25 million) is already needed for their upkeep.

The church, says property services director Alex Glanville, has only 3.6 million pounds ($5.4 million) in the bank to pay for the work.

Solving the financial impasse, he added, is important to Wales because “churchyards are a unique repository of information about our past and provide the story of the Welsh nation.”