It will be more expensive to bury someone in 2024, as city hall is increasing cemetery fees between three and 10 per cent to address rising costs and maintenance issues at both locations.
The parks and recreation department conducts an annual review of rates and provides a recommendation to its advisory committee on the possible changes and how they could affect the budget.
The rates often require annual increases to offset the inflationary costs of maintaining and operating Rosedale and Moose Jaw cemeteries and to ensure the fees align with the rates in other Saskatchewan communities, an Oct. 10 city council report explained.
The department’s recommendations for next year were based on several factors, including:
- A review and assessment of burial trends, specifically, full-casket burials versus cremation burials
- A comparison of cemetery rates from other communities
- Projected cost increases and historical cemetery cost recovery rates
Furthermore, a rates calculation chart ensures that the discounted rates for children and veterans remain at a consistent percentage lower than the regular rates, the report said. This means a regular child or veteran grave will always be 50 per cent of the regular rate.
Areas of increase
A summary of the 2024 rate adjustments shows:
- Regular burial rates increase four per cent to $1,905 from $1,840
- Veteran and child regular burials rise four per cent to $953 from $920
- Casket vault handling fees rise 10 per cent to $98 from $89
- Cremation burial rates increase three to four per cent for one or two urns, respectively, or $1,048 from $1,012 and $1,429 from $1,389
- After-hour rates and charges increase by three to seven per cent based on whether after-hours occur on a weekday, weekend or holiday
- Scattering fees for ashes increase three per cent to $258 from $250
Burial trends
Most burials continue to be cremations, with the cost to open and close such burials being considerably less than a full-casket burial, the council report said.
Year-to-date, the data show there have been 30 full burials and 92 cremation burials, which means the latter comprise 75 per cent of total burials.
In comparison, those numbers last year were 58, 167 and 76 per cent, respectively. Also, the numbers over the five-year average are 41, 110 and 73 per cent, respectively.
Financial implications
Derek Blais, director of parks and recreation, told council that the department’s goal is to manage the cemeteries on a cost-recovery basis. Based on projections, he expected the cemeteries to produce a surplus this year of roughly $20,000, which translated into a cost-recovery rate of 92 per cent.
Meanwhile, the department expected to see a surplus next year of roughly $20,000, translating into a cost recovery of 95 per cent.
The council report compared the budgeted revenues and expenses for 2023 and 2024 and the differences between them:
- Total revenues: $364,465 / $388,585 / $35,873
- Total expenses: $398,063 / $408,042 / $9,979
- Profit (loss): $33,598 / $19,457 / ($14,141)
It’s important for residents to understand that with the revenues the cemeteries generate, the city must use that money to look after those places forever, said Coun. Heather Eby. At some point, though, the city won’t receive any more revenues from Rosedale Cemetery because the land will be full.
“So that’s part of the responsibility of city council and administration, to ensure that there is perpetual care for the cemetery,” she added, “because it needs to be beautiful, not just now, but 50 to 100 years from now.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Oct. 23.
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