By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
In the words of Burlington City Attorney John Bjelajac, the agreement before the City Council Tuesday night regarding the Burlington Cemetery was, in essence, a formality.
“This is a half step above a handshake agreement,” said Bjelajac.
The council discussed the proposed intergovernmental agreement between the city and Town of Burlington. The agreement would be for both entities to provide services such as lawn maintenance, basic snow plowing and road maintenance and encourage donation and cemetery lot sales.
The two groups already have been providing the services on an as-needed basis. The agreement would, in the words of Bjelajac, memorialize the current arrangement.
“I’m confident this will work, because both the town and city want this to work,” Bjelajac said.
The City Council will vote on the item at its July 21 meeting. The Town Board will take up the proposal tonight at the Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. in its monthly meeting.
The agreement would, in theory, put some of the worries about Burlington Cemetery – and the cemetery association – to rest. The cemetery’s finances took a hit in the 1990s when a former treasurer was convicted for embezzling from the maintenance fund.
While that money is slowly being repaid, the low interest rates being paid on that saved money and the growing popularity of cremation has kept the cemetery association from being able to keep up with maintenance and other expenses. Only the interest revenue from that maintenance fund can be used.
In addition, both the chapel and the mausoleum on the cemetery grounds have fallen into disrepair. City Administrator Carina Walters said at Tuesday night’s meeting, the association is looking to become a non-profit organization so it can accept donations to start repairs on those buildings.
The agreement between the city and town would be the end result of about three years worth of discussions on how to handle the financial situation of the cemetery. Both city and town officials agree they don’t want ownership of the cemetery – which would be the end result if the association folded.
While the regular maintenance will be handled per the agreement, Alderman Jon Schultz asked Tuesday night what else was left to be done at the cemetery.
Walters said there would still be a sexton needed to handle burials and the covering of graves, as well as insurance and other incidental work.
Alderman Bob Grandi called the association “a bad business model” and expressed his hope that the association was serious about taking on non-profit status.
Walters assured him that they were.
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