Bend officials say it is time to stop subsidizing operations at Pilot Butte Cemetery, which the city has owned for 100 years.

“It’s an operation that has not been breaking even and that we have to subsidize from the general fund,” City Manager Eric King recently told city councilors. There are many demands on the city general fund, which pays for the Police Department, Fire Department and street operations. In 2009, city officials considered selling the cemetery because of a budget shortfall due to the real estate crash and recession. They ultimately decided to hold onto the cemetery.

The city expects to spend $56,000 in general fund money on the cemetery by the end of the current biennium, and $80,000 during the next biennium, according to the proposed budget. However, those figures do not account for potential burial fee increases.

There are 7,280 people buried in Pilot Butte Cemetery. It is home to some of Central Oregon’s pioneers and city founders such as Clyde McKay, who was involved in the timber industry and real estate development. It is also the final resting place of Lynn Doyle Cooper, whose niece claims he was the man who hijacked a Portland-Seattle flight in 1971. That man, who became known as D.B. Cooper, jumped out of the plane with a parachute and $200,000 near the Columbia River. Officials never found a body.

Finance Director Sonia Andrews said she will return to the City Council with proposed fee increases in June, and if the council approves them, new fees will take effect July 1.

“We are definitely low, and we would propose increasing fees,” Andrews told city councilors Wednesday.

For example, city research showed the private cemetery Deschutes Memorial Gardens charges nearly $1,500 for a single cremation burial and future maintenance, compared with the city charge of about $1,000 for the same services. If the city is committed to maintaining the cemetery and does not plan to transfer it to a different entity, the city should complete a business plan to make the operation financially sustainable, Andrews said. This could result in the city investing in expansions of certain elements of the cemetery, for example.

Mayor Pro Tem Jodie Barram said fee increases would be a good first step toward sustainability for the cemetery. City Councilor Mark Capell said the city should also raise enough money to save for future cemetery maintenance costs. City Councilor Sally Russell said the cemetery has historical value, and it would be great if community members would form a group to help support it.

Cemetery fees for all types of burials would likely increase. Cremation burials account for roughly 70 percent of the activity at Pilot Butte Cemetery, which is why employees presented price research on this type of burial to the City Council, said Budget Manager Sharon Wojda.