Funeral directors say a hike in council cemetery fees will add pain to low-income families struggling to cover the cost of burying a loved one.
Cities around New Zealand have seen significant jumps in burial and cremation fees.
Marlborough had a 19% increase in burial fees, from $5572 in 2024 to $6611 this year, new figures released by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand showed.
A Marlborough District Council spokesperson said the council had been adjusting its cemetery fees for some years to reduce the general rates funding and transfer some of the cost to cemetery users.
Burial fees in Taupō rose by 24% from $1170 to $1455, although it was still the cheapest city for burials out of the council cemeteries listed.
A Taupō District Council spokesperson said the fees and charges were increased to relieve pressure on rates, and had come after several years of low or no increases.
The cost of an ash burial in Taupō also increased by 45%, with the price rising from $202 in 2024 to $365 this year.
Mākara Cemetery in Wellington was the cheapest cemetery for an ash burial, with a price of $365.
Auckland’s Manukau Memorial Gardens and Waikumete Cemetery charged the highest fees for ash burials, each costing $3080.
Meanwhile, the cost of a plot and interment fees set by the New Plymouth District Council remained at the staggering figure of $7207.
A New Plymouth District Council spokesperson said this was for a double-depth plot and interment fee but there were cheaper options for families.
A single depth plot - which can hold eight sets of cremated remains - at Mangapouri Cemetery would cost $2914.
The council spokesperson said the burial plot fee contributed to the cost of maintaining the 11 operative cemeteries and two closed cemeteries across the district.
“About 70% of the costs for running and maintaining our cemeteries is recovered through fees with the balance by ratepayers,” the council spokesperson said.
Funeral Directors Association chief executive Gillian Boyes said councils needed to be held accountable for annual increases in burial and cremation fees.
“The sad reality is that at a time when a very low-income family is hurting and grieving and just wants to remember their loved one, they are going to be faced with the added pain of a big bill with fixed basic costs that just keep going up,” Boyes said.
“Rising cemetery and cremation fees are placing an unsustainable financial burden on low-income families at a time of deep grief.”
The most expensive cremation fee was $1300 in Invercargill, compared to the cheapest council cremation service of $630 in Rotorua.
Some regions do not have council-run services for cremations.
New Zealand Cemeteries & Crematoria Collective chair Daniel Chrisp said councils were under a lot of pressure due to rising costs and a lack of infrastructure investment to do everything they could to keep rates down.
“One of the ways they do that is by reviewing fees,” Chrisp said.
“Unfortunately, what a lot of councils are finding is that the normal inflationary increase every year hasn’t kept up with the actual cost of operations...the only other way to do that is through the ratepayer or through borrowing.”
There is a Winz funeral grant that offers up to $2616 for families if their assets or the assets of a deceased person cannot cover the cost of a funeral.
Boyes said the current Winz funeral grant no longer reflected the true cost of even a basic farewell, especially where council fees were significant.
“We urgently need a review to ensure fair support for grieving families and to prevent funeral providers from carrying the reputational cost of a system that’s no longer fit for purpose.”
Chrisp said the Winz grant “seriously needed looking at” by the Government to help grieving families who did not have much money.
She said the amount given for the ACC funeral grant was currently $7990 which was “far more” than the Winz funeral grant offered families.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.