City Manager Requests More Funds for Cemetery Maintenance

JULY 17, 2025 |

Photo – Leaning headstones at Rawlins Cemetery – Courtesy City of Rawlins

Rawlins officials say that more money and manpower is needed to improve the city cemetery.

Following numerous complaints about the condition of the Rawlins Cemetery, especially regarding mowing and pest control, the governing body held a special workshop before its regular meeting to discuss the issue.

On Tuesday, July 15th, City Manager Tom Sarvey presented a 25-page report on the condition of the cemetery and what is needed to maintain the 40-acre parcel.

Sarvey began by detailing the three sources of revenue generated by the cemetery: plot sales, burial service fees, and perpetual care costs.

In 2024, the city earned $9,330 from plot sales, $12,215 from burial fees, and $3,600 in perpetual care costs, totaling $25,145. City Manager Sarvey said over the past decade, the cemetery has averaged $19,000 in revenue each year.

Burial fees range from $75 to $500 depending on the timing of the burial and whether it involves cremated remains or a full casket. Sarvey said two city employees are tasked with digging graves and setting up for internment services. With an average cost exceeding $900, the City Manager said the city loses money on every burial.

Sarvey suggested placing the cemetery revenue into a separate fund within the city’s parks department so residents can see exactly how the money is used to benefit the graveyard.

Next, the City Manager discussed cemetery maintenance, noting that the parks crew is responsible for managing all 103 acres of the city’s green spaces, including the 40-acre cemetery. Sarvey said that four full-time staff members and one seasonal employee are each tasked with maintaining 20 acres of parkland every week.

Sarvey said the city’s current strategy directs crew members to finish mowing parks before spending any remaining time at the cemetery.

Additionally, the City Manager said the parks crews are using outdated and unreliable equipment to maintain the city’s green spaces. Sarvey said the city has not allocated enough money to purchase new mowers.

Sarvey said if the city does not increase its financial commitment to the cemetery, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain every year.

One area where the cemetery has improved is in rodent control. City Manager Sarvey said poison bait stations appear to be successfully controlling the population of Richardson’s ground squirrels.

Sarvey added that controlling the rodent population also helps keep destructive badgers out of the graveyard.

The City Manager moved on to the abundance of uneven or sunken headstones. Out of the cemetery’s 5,902 grave markers, Sarvey said approximately one-third require maintenance.

Sarvey said the city’s parks crew can right the smaller headstones. However, he recommended hiring an outside contractor to fix the larger monuments.

Next, Sarvey said several sections of the cemetery are either overgrown with weeds or left as bare dirt. Without healthy topsoil, any areas the city attempts to reseed are likely to only grow weeds. To address the issue, the City Manager suggested creating a composting system at the landfill to produce quality topsoil for the cemetery.

City Manager Sarvey also recommended purchasing a new stump grinder to remove the 41 stumps scattered around the graveyard, saying that they are a tripping hazard. Additionally, Sarvey suggested allocating $40,000 to purchase a ground penetrating radar system to locate unmarked graves before crews begin digging.

Rawlins Administrative Assistant Sonia Gamblin explained that many grave registrations have been lost over the cemetery’s 150-year history. Gamblin said the records the city has managed to digitize are incomplete, resulting in crew members breaking into existing burial sites.

Community Development Director Lou Lascano proposed replacing the paper directory currently at the cemetery with a digital kiosk to help visitors locate specific graves more easily.

In the end, City Manager Tom Sarvey said the main takeaway from his 25-page report is that the city is not investing enough money into its cemetery.

Sarvey recommended hiring two additional parks employees, one fulltime and one seasonal, to focus specifically on the cemetery, adding that returning the graveyard back to a proper state will take many years. The City Manager said he will begin working on next fiscal year’s budget early in an attempt to find the money to pay for the additional staff and equipment needed to adequately maintain the cemetery.