A GRAVE SITUATION CEMETERY SEEKS HELP FROM COUNTY.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

LANCASTER - At the century-old Lancaster Cemetery, failing pipes and the desire to irrigate with water recycled from sewage has cemetery officials looking for financial help from Los Angeles County.

Replacing the leaking 50-year-old irrigation system and installing new pipes to carry the treated, disinfected water from Lancaster's sewage treatment plant could cost $150,000 to $175,000, which is beyond the financial resources of the Lancaster Cemetery District, manager Barbara Little said.

``It's been a question of who's going to fix it,'' Little said. ``The cemetery has nearly 600 veterans from Lancaster and all of our old founders and citizens who helped build this community and we can't let it go.''

Twice in the past two years or so, broken irrigation pipes have flooded a maintenance yard at neighboring Antelope Valley High School, which is three feet lower than the cemetery, Little said.

``It's been breaking. As it breaks, my guys go out and fix it. A couple times it broke and we didn't see it,'' she said.

The irrigation system dates to the 1950s, after the cemetery was taken over by a newly formed cemetery district, and the pipes have corroded, Little said.

Cemetery officials want to hook into a recycled-water irrigation line that the city is installing from Lancaster's sewage treatment plant, but the irrigation system must be replaced.

Los Angeles County officials say the cemetery is the property and responsibility of the cemetery district, a separate local government that is among more than 250 in California, mostly in rural or formerly rural areas.

But county officials said they are trying to help the district pay for the work. Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation representatives are due to talk to cemetery officials about finances, said Paul Novak, an aide to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

``Supervisor Antonovich has directed LAFCO staff to sit down with the district and review financial statements with the district and make suggestions,'' Novak said. ``We look forward to working with district staff and are reaching out to the city of Lancaster to maintain support for this important community asset.''

Holding some 5,500 graves that date back to 1895, the cemetery is on 11 acres deeded to Los Angeles County in 1902 by Lancaster settler B.F. Carter, whose family is still involved in Lancaster business and civic affairs. No one was paid to do maintenance, so families took care of their own plots.

After World War II, as the Antelope Valley's population boomed, civic leaders pushed for creation of an independent cemetery district to take care of the cemetery.

Citizens in a 1950 vote created the district and agreed to a property tax of 10 cents per $100 assessed value, Little said.

A 1950 agreement with the county Board of Supervisors says the district shall ``maintain, operate and care for'' the cemetery and that the agreement will remain in effect for 50 years.

Little said that indicates that the cemetery remains county property, with the district responsible only for management.

Antonovich's staff says a recent title search showed that the cemetery district has owned the property since 1951.

Little says she can find no deeds or other documents to confirm that.

``My impression is the dirt belongs to the county,'' she said.

The cemetery has about $250,000 in annual income, of which about $63,000 is tax revenue, Little said. That pays Little, a former Lancaster mayor and Chamber of Commerce manager; a secretary; three groundskeepers and a extra part-time groundskeeper in the summer.

About 100 people a year are buried at the cemetery, which still has five or six acres that are unused out of its original 11 acres.

The cemetery's share of property taxes has declined over the years, so it is now about one-sixth of a penny for each $100 of assessed value, or about $3.30 a year for a home assessed at $200,000, records show.

County officials have suggested that the cemetery raise interment charges, which they believe are the lowest in Antelope Valley. Little said cemetery officials have resisted because the district's mission statement says it is to provide dignified burial at a reasonable cost.

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(color) Lancaster Cemetery District Manager Barbara Little is fighting with the city to fix the pipes of the cemetery, which she claims are not working properly and require constant maintenance.

Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News