For the first time that anyone can remember, the Ignacio, Allison, Oxford Cemetery District is requesting a mill levy increase.
If approved by voters in the district, Ballot Issue 6D would increase the mill levy from .244 mills to .475 mills, or $3.42 annually for every $100,000 in assessed property evaluation, said Laura Whitt, treasurer for the district.
The district provides upkeep for five cemeteries on the eastern side of the county: Ignacio East and West, Allison, Oxford and Tiffany.
“Everybody wants the cemeteries to look good,” she said. But like other property-taxing entities in the area, the cemetery district has seen a 39 percent decrease in mill-levy funding since 2014.
Other officers in the district are president Farren Webb, who oversees maintenance of the Oxford Cemetery, and Emma Shock, who oversees the Allison and Tiffany cemeteries.
The board tried to keep the increase as low as possible while still providing enough funding to keep the cemeteries looking nice, Whitt said.