Should Prairie Home Cemetery Sell Headstones, Vaults?

With a tough city budget for 2012 being under the scrutiny of Waukesha aldermen, brought forward a solution that he says will save the city tens of thousands of dollars.

Scrima would like to have the Common Council come up with a recommendation in the 2012 budget that would allow to sell headstones and vaults.

“Note that the council currently allows the cemetery to compete with private sector businesses by selling flowers, wreaths, planter and benches,” Scrima said in his referral that he gave the Waukesha Common Council Tuesday night. “In addition, other examples can be found where the city and other non-profit organizations compete with private sector businesses in selling the same products or services.”

The budget that is being presented is balanced with a tax freeze, but in order to have a balanced budget, most homeowners could see a $136 fee for garbage collection on their tax bill. Without the garbage fee, the city would be facing a $2.7 million budget shortfall.

“Long-term issues will need to be discussed,” Scrima said at an Oct. 11 Finance Committee meeting.

Other long-term options that were mentioned on Oct. 11 as future considerations for the Common Council were:

• Consolidating with Waukesha County dispatch
• Selling city services to surrounding communities
• Centralizing city services
• Hiring a budget analyst and a grant writer