Las Vegas plans to dig out from under cemetery

Erin Neff

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

Woodlawn Cemetery has buried the city of Las Vegas in expenses for years.

But an agreement expected to be approved by the City Council next Wednesday will get the city out of the death business and a $500,000 to $800,000 annual drag on its budget.

Carriage Services Inc. of Houston -- a nationally known and publicly traded owner of funeral homes and cemeteries -- has agreed to lease the city-owned cemetery for 10 years.

The deal will go before the council's Real Estate Committee on Monday. That committee is expected to authorize the full council to vote on the proposal Wednesday.

The proposed lease would turn all maintenance, sales and capital improvements of the cemetery at Las Vegas Boulevard North and Owens Avenue over to Carriage, and thus rid the city of a money pit that hasn't broken even in years.

For the current fiscal year, the cemetery has projected expenses of $1,265,000 while it brings in just about $500,000 in revenue -- a $765,000 operating loss. On average, the cemetery has sucked $500,000 from other city projects each year.

"The cemetery for the city has really become a losing situation," said David Roark, the city's manager of real estate and asset management.

Over the course of the proposed 10-year lease, which has three five-year options, the city will save between $13 million and $15 million that it can spend on other capital projects such as parks. That money previously was set aside to subsidize the cemetery.

"The city is going to be able to save a lot of money," said City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose ward includes the cemetery.

The city won't make money on the deal, because the $50,000 annual lease payment will be offset by the city's share of water costs. Roark said the cemetery's water bill is roughly $100,000 a year, and the agreement calls for the city and Carriage to split that cost.

"Even though it's basically a break-even every year, for us being able to lease this out to another company, we lose the negative impact on our cash," Roark said.

Carriage owns and operates Bunkers Eden Vale Memorial Park and Bunkers Mortuary, both near Woodlawn on Las Vegas Boulevard. It also owns and operates Bunkers Memory Gardens Mortuary and Memorial Park on West Lone Mountain Road.

The company is the fourth largest publicly traded death care company nationwide. It operates 182 funeral homes and 41 cemeteries in 31 states, according to Carriage's website.

Carriage recently took over a municipal cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

City officials began examining options for Woodlawn last year after years of subsidizing the property.

One of the reasons the city hasn't been able to break even with the facility is that is does not provide the entire funeral service. Funeral homes and cemeteries make a good portion of their revenue on ancillary items like sales of caskets, headstones and flowers.

Woodlawn simply sells the lots and provides maintenance workers to open and close graves for burial. It averages 500 burials a year at a cost of about $1,600 each.

The city advertised that it was seeking requests for qualifications from companies interested in either buying or leasing the cemetery. A city committee chose Carriage from a field of nine companies.

One of Weekly's biggest concerns with the proposed lease was whether the eight full-time city employees who work at Woodlawn would lose their jobs.

"I've been assured there will be no layoffs," Weekly said.

The employees will likely be re-assigned to other parks and recreation facilities.

Carriage officials could not be reached for comment.

City sources said the company plans to build a mausoleum and improve landscaping at Woodlawn.

Several residents concerned about loved ones buried at Woodlawn had contacted City Councilman Gary Reese when word of the city's intent to lease or sell the property first surfaced and when the cemetery was in his ward.

Weekly said he has not received any complaints about the pending lease, but said he would hold neighborhood meetings with residents and representatives of the company if necessary.

Under terms of the lease agreement, Carriage will not be able to change the cemetery's name, and must get approval from the city for any substantive changes to the property.

"They're going to work really well with the constituents here," Weekly said.