Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Debts prompt funeral fees hike

By <b>ABIGAIL CASPARI</b>
Rotorua Daily Post·
17 Jul, 2007 03:57 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article


ROTORUA families may have to pay more for funerals.
The Rotorua District Council wants local funeral directors to collect burial fees on its behalf.
The fees - which range from $1200 to $1800 - are charged for burials, cremations, disposing of ashes and purchasing plots.
Grieving families are billed
for these fees by their funeral director - on behalf of the council - and pay the money to the council.
However, the council is owed $38,000 in fees and wants funeral directors to collect the money in an attempt to avoid bad debt.
Sceptical funeral directors say the bad debt problem will simply move from the council to funeral directors.
One funeral director estimates the proposal will result in families paying a $100 operating fee, and a $1200 to $1800 deposit before funerals proceed.

Burial fees are charged on top of the average cost of a funeral of $6500.
Rotorua funeral directors plan to fight the change which councillors at a Parks and Reserves Committee meeting have voted in favour of.
The move still needs to be signed off by the full council.
Keith Osborne, one of Rotorua's four funeral directors, told the Daily Post he could not understand the council's reasoning.
Funeral directors were already having to write off up to $80,000 a year in bad debts, he said.
Mr Osborne said if funeral directors were held responsible for collecting the council-imposed fees they would have to collect more than $160,000 a year.
Even if 10 or 20 per cent of that amount became "bad debt" that was a lot of money for a private business to cover, he said.
The council cannot legally refuse to provide burial and cremation services.
However, Mr Osborne questioned what would happen if a funeral director ran into financial difficulties and could not afford to pay the council-imposed fees.
"Is the council going to refuse a family a burial or cremation?"
Mr Osborne said a $100 "operating" fee was likely, and a $1200 to $1800 deposit - to cover burial costs - would be necessary. People would have to pay more to cover those who were not paying up.
Mr Osborne said he was disappointed by the lack of consultation.
Council staff only had one meeting with funeral directors earlier in the year.
He was also upset that he was informed less than an hour before the committee meeting that the issue was to be voted on.
Mr Osborne planned to meet with other funeral directors to lobby councillors to change their minds before next month's full council meeting.
Richard Bennison, of Grays Funeral Services, said the council's decision was "absolutely unfair".
He planned to fight it.
"We are already writing $40,000 to $60,000 off in bad debt each year," he said.
"If we are going to have another $20,000 to $30,000 in bad debt it doesn't make the business viable."
He expected funeral directors would have to borrow money to pay council fees if families did not pay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

02 Jul 06:00 PM
live
Rotorua Daily Post

Authorities brace for fresh floods, destructive gales, as rain blankets NZ

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

02 Jul 11:55 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

02 Jul 06:00 PM

Another councillor said his stance was 'disingenuous' after he backed additional funding.

Authorities brace for fresh floods, destructive gales, as rain blankets NZ
live

Authorities brace for fresh floods, destructive gales, as rain blankets NZ

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

02 Jul 11:55 AM
Popular Waikato walkway fully reopens after major upgrade

Popular Waikato walkway fully reopens after major upgrade

02 Jul 05:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP