Committee agrees in concept to infuse cash, maintain grounds
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Officials from the city and town of Burlington, along with representatives from the Burlington Cemetery Association, have reached a tentative agreement on a plan to put the independent association on the path to financial health.
Burlington Mayor Bob Miller said Monday the city-town-association committee met twice and has agreed in principal to draft a plan that involves in-kind maintenance – such as mowing and snowplowing – as well as an infusion of cash to help repair and market the financially insolvent cemetery.
City Attorney John Bjelajac is in the process of drafting the agreement, Miller said. It will return to the committee in late January or early February for final consideration and would then advance to the City Council and Town Board for final consideration.
Miller did not specify how much money would be expected from taxpayers in each community, but he said the goal is to help the association to someday become self-sufficient once again.
“The last thing I want the city to do is run a cemetery,” he said.
It was a year ago when members of the association, which runs Burlington Cemetery at 701 S. Browns Lake Drive, announced that the association was essentially bankrupt and in need of financial assistance from the community.
Association President Earl Vorpagel approached both the City Council and Town Board in early 2013 requesting $15,000 from each to deal with the most pressing maintenance concerns.
While the city said it was open to the concept, the town turned down the request saying it didn’t have money in its budget for such support.
Members of the cemetery association then considered dissolving, which would essentially force the city to take over the facility after a period of time. That’s when Miller stepped in and called for the creation of the committee.
The cemetery’s finances took a hit in the 1990s when a former treasurer was convicted for embezzling funds. However, according to Miller, the bottom fell out in recent years when interest rates plummeted and income generated by the cemetery’s perpetual care fund fell far short of meeting the facility’s maintenance needs.
“When (interest rates) dropped to half a percent it didn’t even come close” to covering operational costs, Miller said.
In October the Burlington Cemetery Chapel was approved for both the state and national registers of historic buildings. The designation could make it possible for the association to seek grant money to repair the historic chapel, which has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
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