Topeka ? Officials with the financially struggling Topeka Cemetery say they want to start a campaign that would eventually enable the cemetery to be financially independent.

They asked the Topeka City Council on Tuesday to provide $80,000 in the next six months to establish an endowment fund. The cemetery wants to eventually implement a marketing strategy to raise $3 million.

The council was told that if the city didn’t help, the seven Topeka Cemetery Association board members likely would resign and force the city to take over the cemetery.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Thursday that the council told the city staff to study how to provide the cemetery association with guest tax money earmarked for historic preservation.

More than 34,000 people are buried at the cemetery, including Vice President Charles Curtis and Kansas Gov. Samuel Crawford.