BaldwinCity.com

It looks like the city of Baldwin City will be in the cemetery business in about a year and it looks like that needs to happen.

Roger Boyd, the vice president of the Baldwin City Cemetery Board, outlined the financial situation of Oakwood and Baldwin City (Pioneer) cemeteries to the Baldwin City Council at Monday's meeting. It's not a pretty sight.

Pioneer Cemetery has been around since 1854 and Oakwood Cemetery was started 15 years later in 1869 after it became clear that Pioneer wasn't a good place for burials because the ground was too wet. It has been basically inactive since.

Since then, Oakwood has served the community well, with hundreds upon hundreds buried there. That includes a Who's Who of the city's history, including one gravestone with the name Baldwin, the city's namesake, on it.

Over the years, Oakwood has been developed into a very nice cemetery. Visitors who haven't seen it before remark how beautiful it is.

But, in the last decade or so, it's been hard to make ends meet for the cemetery board for various reasons. In the last two years alone, shortfalls over the $10,000 mark have occurred.

Fortunately, over the years a trust fund for the cemetery was developed and investments were made. The certificates of deposit have been keeping the cemetery going, but they are being whittled down. The trust fund provides funds from interest earned, but the principal can't be touched.

As Boyd told the council, it's just a matter of time before the shortfalls erode the CDs causing the trust fund to come next.

So, the board came up with a plan to turn the cemeteries - and the assets, mostly the trust fund - over to the city. The city would then operate the cemeteries. It only makes sense, especially to do it now while there are still assets.

If not, when the money is gone, the city would have to take over the cemeteries anyway. Now's the time to do it.

These are important parts of Baldwin City's history. Oakwood is among the best cemeteries around. Let's preserve the past and plan for the future.