Cemetery financial burden for city

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

With more than $500,000 a year needed to subsidize Woodlawn Cemetery, the city of Las Vegas is looking to get out of the death business.

Selling plots and maintaining the cemetery at Las Vegas Boulevard North and Owens Avenue is becoming such a financial burden that the city has requested proposals to take it over.

"It's been in the red for quite a while," said city Finance Director Mark Vincent.

"We're trying to look at this from an entrepreneurial standpoint."

The request for proposals is more or less casting a wide net to see what ideas private businesses have in an industry at which the city has not proven to be adept.

In the current fiscal year, the cemetery has projected expenses of $1,265,000 while it brings in just about $500,000 in revenue. The projected $765,000 operating loss will be subsidized with transfers from the city's general fund -- thus leaving less money behind for much-needed parks projects.

The cemetery has averaged about $500,000 in such subsidies from the general fund for several years, Vincent said.

Councilman Gary Reese, whose ward includes the cemetery, said he would love to be able to privatize some of the cemetery's operations.

"I think any time we have a chance to save money, we should take a look at it," Reese said. "It's the same thing as with Metro (Police), only I think this is a lot less controversial.

"The only people I think that could be upset by this are those with family buried there."

Deputy City Manager Steven Houchens agreed that the financial savings might not be the most important to residents.

"The obstacle we will probably have to face will be emotional, more than anything else," Houchens said. "Will people feel comfortable with a private owner?"

One of the requirements of the request for proposals is that the cemetery and its undeveloped land remain used for cemetery purposes.

Reese said the request for proposals is designed to find a company interested in constructing a mausoleum or taking over the sale of plots.

Although maintenance of the cemetery is unique compared to other city-owned parks, it does not carry the biggest price tag at Woodlawn. Keeping up the grounds might still be handled by the city even if a private company does come in.

Vincent said the request for proposals is one option the city has in trying to recoup its losses on Woodlawn. Another option being considered is raising the rates for plots. However, Houchens said, the city has historically kept fees low.

Seeking private enterprises to perform duties the city has traditionally held is the latest push for more fiscal accountability that the City Council is trying to achieve.

The city recently entered an agreement with the YMCA to run its new Northwest Leisure Center.

Houchens said the typical $500,000 annual subsidy is in part due to the fact that the city does not offer the same extra services other cemeteries or funeral homes do.

"All we basically do is provide land," Houchens said. "The funeral homes and existing cemeteries also provide the whole funeral services. All we really do is open the hole and close the hole and sell the lots.

"We're really not in the business and so I don't know that we do a good job in managing it," Houchens said.

The cemetery, which has been owned and operated by the city since 1912, currently has eight full-time city employees. Two are needed for each burial.

Woodlawn averages 500 burials a year at a cost of $1,600 apiece, including internment, but not covering a headstone.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said she can't believe the city is subsidizing a cemetery.

"Way back when there probably was a need for a city cemetery..." Boggs McDonald said. "But today there are many more private sector companies who could better run it.

"We should privatize it."