Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Cemetery District is proposing a five-year 8-cent local option levy in the Nov. 8 special election to help supplement shrinking revenue.
The levy, 8 cents per $1,000 of property valuation, would raise an estimated $30,000 for the district, which incorporates most of the Sweet Home area east of Holley, along Marks Ridge and east to Cascadia. The district cares for five cemeteries, including Gilliland, Lewis Creek, Liberty, Ames and Fir Grove off Whiskey Butte. The estimate is based on anticipated property tax limitations.
The district’s budget, which was about $300,000 last year, is funded by three main sources of income: taxes, interest and the sale of plots and markers. This year, the budget was about $260,000.
The district has a permanent tax rate of 21.66 cents per $1,000, generating $107,000 per year.
The Cemetery District budget includes some $470,000 in a perpetual care fund, but it is irreducible, said district manager Harland Smith. The district may only use interest earned on the funds, like an endowment.
The district used to get 9 to 12 percent interest at one point, said Mike Melcher, secretary of the district board of directors. Now, it is getting about 3 percent.
Grave and marker sales are shrinking, and cremation is becoming more popular because it is less expensive.
The cost of burial is about $1,000 in addition to the cost of a marker, Melcher said. The district charges a total of $175 for cremation.
People also keep the cremation remains, Smith said. Right now, business is about 60 percent cremation. It used to be about 30 percent, but that’s when a funeral cost $2,000 to $3,000 instead of $6,000 to $10,000.
Revenues in all three areas have decreased, while costs have increased, Smith said.
The district has laid off one employee, and a second has gone to part time.
Since the district sold timber in 2009, using the revenue to purchase 8.5 acres at Gilliland Cemetery and pave while building a new entrance primarily with donations, the district has had no capital expenditures recently, Melcher said. It is also off its cycle for replacing pickup trucks. It hasn’t purchased a new pickup since 2005. The district uses two pickups on a five-year cycle.
“In light of what’s happened, there are some people in the community who’ve come out and helped us to maintain the appearance of this cemetery (Gilliland) that everyone enjoys,” Melcher said.
With the revenue from the local option levy, district officials hope to maintain two full-time employees, including the manager and a helper, maintain asphalt and get capital expenditures back on track.
City of Sweet Home Finance Director Pat Gray and attorney John Wittwer helped the district prepare the local option levy for the ballot, Melcher said, and the district thanks them.
“I’m optimistic because I think this has been very well maintained and people will want to continue to see it that way,” he said.
The district was organized in 1958 to maintain the original pioneer cemeteries, fully fund new sections and maintain them, Smith said. The first burial in Gilliland was a baby, John Gilliland, in 1854. All of the cemeteries were started about the same time, Lewis by Stewart Lewis, Liberty on a donation from the Nye family, Ames by Lowell Ames and Whiskey Butte by the Thompson family.
The Cemetery District’s last major project was the new entrance in 2009, Melcher said. The district cut three acres of timber along the west border near the old entrance, raising enough money to add 8.5 acres and cover $26,000 in pavement for the new entrance. Burke Logging harvested the timber under Melcher’s supervision.
“The reason for wanting a new entrance was for safety,” said Chairwoman Laura Mather. A granite monument was donated by Lee and Nancy Land, and the entrance itself was completed by board member Tom Hyer, Melcher and Robin Miller of Sweet Home. Lee Land’s brother-in-law Roy Dodge was the architect.
It was a minimal expense to the district, Melcher said. Nearly everything was donated.
Josh Darwood traded to complete the concrete, which holds a wood grain made by Melcher, Melcher said.
Coming up, the Cemetery District is opening up an old section that had been reserved and unused at the top of the hill, Smith said. Blocks 11 and 13 were filled in the 1970s and 1980s while block 12 was reserved for babies.
Modern technology means that babies do not die as often, Smith said. The block has not been needed.
“It’s probably one of the primest sections of the cemetery for grave sales,” Smith said. It is probably one of the most scenic locations and it is among the most level.
In-district cost for one of the plots is $300. Out-of-district cost is $400.
In the near future, Gilliland Cemetery will include a pet cemetery, Melcher said. The plots are 90 percent ready to go.
“The people have to have their pet cremated,” Smith said.
The price is not set yet but could range up to $175.
“We felt there is an interest in it,” Melcher said.
One woman told Mather that she lives in an apartment and her children live out of state, Mather said. If her pet dies, she wondered what she would do with it because her apartment management probably would not allow the pet to be buried in the flower bed.
For information about the cemetery, call the district office at (541) 367-3786.
Board members are Mather, Melcher and Hyer. They meet the second Monday of the month, and meetings are open to the public.