Burial costs set to rise in Tauranga

The cost to buy a plot and bury an adult at Tauranga's Pyes Pa Cemetery will increase by $645 from July 1 after the city council discovered cremations were subsidising burials.

A review of cemetery charges was ordered by the council on Monday after concern about the size of the increases in some burial charges to combat the loss of income once Legacy Funerals installed its own cremator.

The financial breakdown of the whole cemetery operation led to a rejigging of the original proposed increases to bury adults. Instead of a 50 per cent increase in the burial fee, the rise will be about 20 per cent ($105) to $650 - including RSA burials.

The price of a plot rises by nearly 37 per cent for adults and children aged over 5, to $2000 and $600 respectively. Where a person was buried in the same plot as a pre-deceased loved one, the family was only charged for its reopening. This will rise by $72 to $200.

The cost to cremate an adult will rise by $10 to $440, and $5 has been added to child cremations. Charges for ash burial options will rise a maximum of 8 per cent, or up to $35.

Debate by the council on the revised scale of charges was confidential because it did not want to give Legacy a commercial advantage.

Mayor Stuart Crosby said afterwards that even although some of the increases had been pared back, the council was assured the overall cemetery operation would remain user-pays. He said the new charges were still subject to public consultation as part of the draft 10-year plan for 2012-22.

The figures showed that cremations were increasing and burials decreasing, so that revenue from cremations were subsidising burials. Burial plots also had higher maintenance costs.

"What is reflected here is that cremations pay for cremations and burials pay for burials."

Mr Crosby said that irrespective of when Legacy built its crematorium, the council needed to make the changes in the fees structure. The issues raised by Legacy's crematorium had led the council to look at its whole operation.

The new charges, which include GST, will be monitored for two years to ensure revenue reflects actual costs in each cost centre. Mr Crosby said Tauranga's cemetery charges were still at the lower end compared to other cities.