Title
Proposed Revisions to Cemetery Fee Schedule
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve the Proposed Revisions to the Cemetery Fee Schedule as presented.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council approve the Proposed Revisions to the Cemetery Fee Schedule as presented.
Body
Fee structures and schedules for the Guaje Pines Cemetery have changed several times over the past 60 years. With these changes, we have discovered that plot purchases made more than 25 years ago may have included pre-paid elements of the current service packages-specifically openings (burials) and/or grave liners. Under the current fee structure, burial packages include openings, grave liners, and marker settings. There may be as many as 400 customers that have already paid for openings or grave liners, but not both. When the current ordinance was adopted in 2018, grave liners became required for all burials.
The County is unable to recover costs from these customers under the current fee structure. We are proposing fees that would apply only to these pre-1995 purchases to remedy this situation.
Additionally, we are proposing a fee for marker setting, which is ground-level placement of permanent markers provided by families whose loved ones have been interred at Guaje Pines. While the current service packages include settings of markers, there are spaces for burials that took place prior to the current fee structure that still don’t have permanent markers. This marker setting fee would apply to these plots as well as to any potential marker replacements.
Lastly, an increase is proposed for the disinterment fee. While disinterments are not typical, they require additional supervision by outside, licensed professionals and may also require reinterments into different spaces, both of which increase costs.
Alternatives
Council could choose not to approve the additional proposed fees or the increased disinterm...
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