South Waikato burial costs could increase up to 354%

The cost of having a weekend burial in South Waikato could be about to skyrocket.

The South Waikato District Council has proposed a 354 percent increase in the extra charge for a burial on a Saturday, Sunday, or statutory holiday.

The charge is one of nine burial fees proposed by the district council to increase by between 40 and 386 percent.

John Ghent had lived in Tokoroa for nearly 20 years and said the increases would represent graveyard robbery.

He said he understood costs were going up everywhere but believed the huge cemetery fee increases were far ahead of inflation.

He had tried to talk to council staff about why the increases were needed.

"They don't ever make it clear what their arguments are. They use soft words and sweet slogans, they'll say 'in line with this, that, or the other,' but that just doesn't add up," he said.

Ghent said the proposed increases felt like a tax on the dying.

Derek Mossman was the owner of South Waikato Funeral Services.

Their average fee for organising all the aspects of a burial and funeral was about $8000, which included paying council charges on behalf of the estate.

He was concerned about what the council was proposing, and thought the council should re-examine the issue.

"I've been here in this district for just over 20 years. I remember having a previous discussion with two former mayors and councillors who always said the cemeteries weren't there to make a profit."

South Waikato mayor Gary Petley said council was not trying to make a profit out of owning cemeteries. Instead, he said council needed to recover the costs of the service.

Petley said the cemetery fees had not changed in six years.

The council was currently consulting on the fee increases but had received only three submissions about the cemetery charges.

Given the council said that the fees were rising because contractor prices had increased, RNZ asked whether the consultation would really change anything.

"We look at anything people want us to do," Petley said.

However, he said the council still needed to figure out who paid for what, and the fees proposal was about recovering the cost from those using the cemeteries.

'Families disadvantaged' by grave increases

Tai Taiki from the Tokoroa Budget Advisory Service said the extra fees represented money people just didn't have.

"For a lot of people it's hard enough to come up with the money to bury their loved one. But these increased costs the council is proposing, that's going to throw them over the edge," she said.

Funeral Directors Association chief executive Gillian Boyes told Checkpoint in some parts of the country councils were running starting to out of space.

"At the moment there is space, it's just the cost that is so enormous and so disproportionate compared to other forms of disposal."

She said burial prices went up 48 percent in Tauranga a couple of years ago, and then another 6 percent last year; in Nelson went up by 20 percent last year, on top of 37 percent the year before.

"The price is out of our control and our families are disadvantaged by it."

The affected fees are:

• Right of burial (reserve plot) - adult currently $605, proposed 43 percent increase to $870
• Right of burial (reserve plot) - child (under 12) currently $405, proposed 65 percent increase to $670
• Right of burial (reserve plot) - ashes currently $160, proposed 166 percent increase to $425
• Adult interment (burial) currently $675, proposed 142 percent increase to $1,640
• Child (under 12) interment (burial) currently $440, proposed 40 percent increase to $615
• Ashes interment (burial) currently $150, proposed 83 percent increase to $275
• Additional charges for Saturday, Sunday and statutory holidays (adult and child) currently $240, proposed 354 percent increase to $1,090
• Disinterment (exhumation) currently $675, proposed 386 percent increase to $3,280
• Re-interment (reburial) currently $675, proposed 144 percent increase to $1,650

Consultation on the proposed fee increases closes on Friday 3 May and the council will meet later in May to decide the final charges.