Cemetery District Seeks Funds to Offset Budget

The Artesia Cemetery District is seeking donations from its constituent cities to help bridge a $50,000 budget gap that could mean its undoing.

The first positive response came Thursday when the Cerritos City Council voted to come up with $24,000 on the condition that other cities--Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood and Norwalk--pay their share.

But a Lakewood spokesman said his city would not pay even $9,000, an amount the district says represents Lakewood’s share of the 87-year-old cemetery, because not all residents are included in the district’s tax base.

District Secretary Joyce Yeutter said that some of the other cities have hinted at offering loans to cover the deficit, which equals about one-third of its annual budget. However, she said cemetery officials are looking for a more long-term solution because recent shifts in property tax allocations have meant consistently smaller cemetery budgets.

If it cannot raise the money, the district could be dissolved by the county’s Local Agencies Formation Commission. In that case, control of the cemetery would revert to Cerritos because it hosts the largest portion--48%--of the district’s tax base.

Cerritos City Manager Art Gallucci declined to comment on that possibility.