Council discusses taking on maintenance of historical cemeteries; equipment and staffing would draw down cemetery fund

Parks Director Terry Murphy told the council the parks department has studied the costs to bring maintenance of eight historical cemeteries in-house and proposed buying equipment and adding staff to handle the work.

Murphy said the town would need two mowers, a pickup truck and an equipment trailer and proposed funding $109,000 from the cemetery fund plus $10,000 from the general fund to purchase the items. He also said the operation would require a full-time park maintenance technician and a seasonal maintenance laborer; personnel and benefit costs would appear in the operating budget if the council chose to take the work in-house.

Why it matters: Several council members and residents have raised concerns about the condition of historic small cemeteries. Murphy cautioned that using the cemetery fund capital balance to buy equipment would largely deplete the balance and that a future council would need to decide how to sustain maintenance beyond FY 2026-27.

Murphy and Finance Director Brian Sylvia explained council choices: continue the current model of drawing down existing cemetery funds year to year; or approve the capital purchases and add operating budget resources to fund staff and ongoing maintenance once the cemetery fund is exhausted. He noted the town had historically accepted small endowments for cemetery care that no longer cover current maintenance costs.

Next steps: Council members asked staff to supply a list of which cemeteries would be maintained and to show operating-cost estimates for adding personnel in the FY 2025-26 operating budget process.