Tempe Town Lake

“We are looking at an annual operating deficit of $270,000 a year”

What does one have to do to steal this much money from the taxpayers of Tempe? I suspect its a simple campaign contribution to a city council member and they will steal the loot from the taxpayers for you!

Source

Historical cemetery asks Tempe for debt help

By Allison Oswalt September 16, 2010 at 10:29 pm

Since 1897, more than 11,000 people have been buried in Tempe’s Double Butte Cemetery, but this year, the small time capsule of land has faced economic hardship.

This historical landmark has held a place in the city as the only traditional public cemetery, one open to Tempe residents and community members. Surrounding parks, streets, schools and buildings bear the same names found in the cemetery, which reads like a map to the city.

Since June 30 this year, the city’s cemetery fund had an accumulated debt of $561,000. The deficit was directly affected by sales as well as residents choosing crematory services over a traditional burial.

Now cemetery officials want the city of Tempe to absorb the debt and operational costs.

The cemetery’s fund, which was established in 2007 in order to pay for the debt, maintenance and administration fees, is now proposed to be discontinued, said Jerry Hart, deputy director of finance for Tempe.

The cemetery fund was created specifically to pay for expansion and renovation that took place.

In 2007, the Double Butte Cemetery received bond approval from the city of Tempe to expand and renovate the land, which had been at maximum capacity since 1994.

The city issued $2.4 million to improve the land with the intent that the expansion would increase sales. The sales would then be generated to pay for bonds, maintenance and administration costs, said Cynthia Yanez, executive assistant of Parks and Recreation for Tempe.

Although expansion was expected to increase sales, the numbers that followed have fallen far short of expectations, Hart said.

“Sales projected with the expansion have not been met,” Hart said. “This has led us into the situations as of today.”

The new proposed budget was presented to the Tempe City Council on Thursday. The cemetery is seeking council approval of the new budget-balancing plan, Hart said.

At this time, the cemetery fund is now operating in a deficit, Hart said.

“We are looking at an annual operating deficit of $270,000 a year,” he said.

The cemetery is selling enough to pay back debt services but not enough to pay for staff or ongoing maintenance, Yanez said. Between 2009 and 2010 alone, the overall sales of the cemetery have dropped from $99,584 to $62,983.

Expenditure reductions will come from the elimination of staff positions, totaling close to $150,000, Hart said. The proposed positions are currently vacant. Reduction in materials, supply fees and services will also drop almost $50,000 in expenses.

Public works staff will now be in charge of ensuring maintenance on the cemetery. But with less staff, a negative impact is feared.

In the current economy, more community members are also opting for cremation services, finding that the cost is about half of a traditional casket burial, Yanez said. There is also an increase in people donating their bodies to science.

“People are really starting to pick and chose about their final resting place,” she said. “This definitely affects sales.

Although ideas of selling the land back to a private owner are always an option in an economic bind, community members are committed to keeping the cemetery a property of Tempe, Hart said.

The only time the land has been sold into private hands was in 1998 to Gil Sjaina. He acted as owner of the land for two years before the city of Tempe was forced to intervene, Hart said, adding that at the time of sale, Tempe did not have the means to renovate the land, and Sjiana was willing to take on the challenge.

In the end it did not work out, Hart said. During that time period the cemetery was not being maintained how it was supposed to and certain agreements were not being met. The city of Tempe also received many complaints during this time.

“We all recollect what happened last time it was in private hands,” said Shawn Wagner, parks and recreation administrator. “We aren’t going to let that happen again.”

After reclaiming the cemetery in 2000, the city of Tempe established the Double Butte advisory committee to overlook future issues.

“There is definitely a history of the territory and state in that cemetery,” Yanez said. “There is a lot of family out there.”

Members of the Double Butte committee campaigned to raise awareness about this historical landmark, and will showcase their efforts with a walking tour on Halloween titled “Tales from Double Butte Cemetery.”

The walk will highlight some of Tempe’s most famous residents buried in the cemetery, which include 11 previous Tempe mayors. Half of the funds from the event will also go toward the cemetery fund, Yanez said.

“It is a place of pride for the Tempe community,” Wagner said.

Reach the reporter at amoswalt@asu.edu