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Bellevue Cemetery leaders defend locking gates, say container fund covers overtime and security costs
Summary
Bellevue Cemetery officials told the Lawrence City Council that a city-authorized "container" revolving fund, funded by 60% of cemetery lot sales, pays operating costs including overtime used to lock gates and respond to vandalism and drug activity; councilors pressed for clearer reports and a written process for purchases and transfers.
Elizabeth Charlton, chairwoman of the Bellevue Cemetery board, told the Lawrence City Council that Bellevue Cemetery uses a city-authorized "container" revolving fund as its operating budget and that the fund covers overtime and security costs.
"You already get 40% of the sale of every single lot in the Bellevue Cemetery. That is given to the city. We get 60% that goes into the container fund, and we use it for our operating budget," Charlton said. She described repeated vandalism, vehicle damage to headstones, two rapes, and drug deaths that the board says justify locking cemetery gates at night.
The cemetery director, who identified the fund as the cemetery's revolving or "container" fund, told the council the cemetery receives minimal direct city operating support in the budget and relies on…
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