KILLEEN, Texas — Honor, duty, commitment — these are the traditions upheld by the folks at the Central Texas State Veterans.
Right now, the cemetery is run by the Texas Veterans Land Board but that could all change with an upcoming vote by the Killeen City Council.
”The City is considering taking over the daily operations of the cemetery,” said Executive Secretary of Texas Veterans Land Board, Tony Dale.
“Which means things like scheduling the services at the cemetery, maintaining the grounds, preparing the grounds for burial, and raising and lowering the flags and opening the gates.”
Right now, the people doing the work are contracted through the stated.
If the deal is approved, those same people will become city employees.
”They’re getting better benefits,” said Killeen City Council Member, Jose Segarra.
“They’re getting healthcare, they’re getting retirement and hopefully, that will provide long-term work for them — they'll stay there longer.”
Segarra says the financial burden will still fall on the state.
”The good news is that in contract the city, when the city takes over these operations, is funded by the Texas Veterans Land Board,” Dale said.
“It's not a reimbursement, — it’s a contract where they get paid to do the work”
If Killeen assumes operations, they will be required to maintain the same level of standards the cemetery currently follows.
”Part of the contract, whether it’s Killeen or any other city or county that we operate with, is to maintain the cemetery to the National Cemetery Registration standards,” Dale said.
“That’s the Veterans Administration Standards.”
By contracting with Killeen, the General Land Office and Texas Veterans Land Board will save money they tell me will still go to the cemetery.
”We have capital needs as you can imagine," Dale said.
“There’s equipment that we need at the various cemeteries. Some of our gates are manually operated — we want to change those to automatic gates.”
Again, the city will be acting as a contractor responsible for daily operations and upkeep of the cemetery — the cost of operations will be paid for by the Texas Veterans Land Board.
