Cornell City Council - Cemetery association is running out of money
Something that’s long been a source of pride for the Cornell community, is the cemetery, located along State Hwys. 64 and 178, just west of the city. Its pristine landscape and monuments speak volumes, to the amount of dedication and work put into it, over its almost 100 years of existence.
Now, however, the Cornell Cemetery Association is facing some challenges, mainly of the financial kind. Despite their best efforts, the association has lost money, for much of the last decade.
If they deplete their fund entirely, state statute says that the city takes over the operation of the cemetery, which is why the association made an appeal for help, Aug. 21, to the Cornell City Council.
“We also have some expensive decisions to make in the future,” said association president Mary Roth.
One of those decisions, is whether to add more regular grave sites. Some years ago, the association created a cremation section, where the lay of the land is too small for regular graves, but now, more are needed.
“Adding graves is a large expense, as it has to be surveyed, staked, platted and recorded with the Register of Deeds, and many legal fees,” said Roth. “We don’t need more cremation sections out there, we need more regular graves.”
The association does have 18.5 acres available, that have not been developed.
“We have the land, we just don’t have the finances,” said Roth.
Another expensive option, is seal coating the paved pathways in the cemetery.
“As you know, maintenance of the roads is important, so they don’t fall apart,” said Roth.
There’s also some fixing up that needs doing, such as filling in and seeding of sunken graves, with the association in need of volunteers to do the labor.
While they are looking into some fundraising options, Roth asked the city council to consider giving something toward upkeep, when the budget cycle comes around this fall. Otherwise, some very hard decisions will need to be addressed.
“Whatever we do, it’s expensive,” said Roth.
