If you live in Whangarei and plan on being cremated, try not to die between April 19 and April 26.
Whangarei's new cremator should be up and running at Maunu Crematorium later this month, but any cremations needed while installation is taking place will have to go to Kerikeri or the North Shore.
Auckland-based Maunu Crematorium, owned by the same people who own Whangarei's Morris & Morris Funerals, has been given the contract to run the crematorium by Whangarei District Council.
The company is spending about $500,000 installing a new cremator to replace ageing equipment.
Morris & Morris general manager Gary Taylor said the company would pay any extra costs associated with having to transfer cremations to Kerikeri or the North Shore for the nine days the cremator will be out of action.
The new cremator is in storage in Whangarei until the old one is decommissioned, which should start about April 19. The new cremator is expected to begin operating on April 26.
Mr Taylor said the crematorium could not be kept open while the old cremator was decommissioned and the new one installed.
"One of the options is to take the deceased to Kerikeri, which is the Far North crematorium and probably the nearest, or the North Shore," he said.
"Maunu Crematorium Ltd will be bearing the costs of any transportation and will only charge the local funeral directors the cost of a cremation at Maunu."
Mr Taylor said the company had to be careful and respectful when removing the old cremator, which would be buried within Maunu Cemetery.
"It has cremated a whole lot of people over the years and it will hold significance to a number of people in the area," he said.
The old cremator would be sent off with a blessing when it was interred, Mr Taylor said.
"It's been part of the structure and we've got to treat it with quite a bit of respect."
The cost of a cremation at Maunu will rise from $450 to $595 - a 32.2 per cent increase.
Company director Craig Little said the price rise would help pay for the capital investment the company had to put into the "very run-down" facility.
Mr Little said the company would also upgrade the crematorium facilities to bring them up to standard, including installing disabled toilets.
About 78 per cent of people who die in Whangarei are cremated.
The new cremator would be able to handle almost double the 450 to 500 cremations carried out in the city every year.
Council infrastructure services manager Simon Weston said that, as landlord, the council had a management contract in place with a series of performance standards that must be adhered to.
Cremations go on hold during $500,000 revamp
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