Most cemetery fees are going up by 25 per cent in Kamloops next year.
Parks planning supervisor Mike Doll says rates have been the same since 2015, and says Kamloops charges about 25 per cent less than other municipalities for interment and inurnment services.
“The goal of any cemetery is to break even, essentially. So we don’t want taxpayers to have to pay for the cemetery operations. It’s a user pay system, so that’s one of the reasons we’re proposing raising the fees, so that burden doesn’t get transferred to the taxpayers.”
After next year, cemetery fees will rise by five per cent each year until 2030 for interment and inurnment services, like full burials and cremations. And rates will go up by 2.5 per cent for other services.
And he says the city can supplement its perpetual care fund.
“We have what’s called a perpetual care fund, so a percentage of the plot sales go into that fund. That’s exactly what it’s intended for. So when the cemetery is full and we’ve moved on to a different location, that money can then be used to maintain that cemetery in perpetuity.”
Doll says the city is also encouraging double-depth grave plots to conserve land, and therefore pricing for double-depth plots will go up five per cent next year, instead of 25 per cent, and 2.5 per cent after that until 2030 instead of five per cent.
Council also approved a new Cemetery Master Plan, which was last updated in 2013. New updates focus primarily on the Hillside Cemetery, which Doll says has about 30 years until it is expected to reach capacity.
The plans include adding a double-sided columbarium, a green burial site, a scattering garden, viewpoints and expanding the mausoleum.
Residents were surveyed earlier this year online, instead of in-person because of COVID-19, and Doll says there was strong interest on green burials in particular.
Green burials, according to the city, are burials where a body is placed in a biodegradable shroud or a casket with no liner or vault and no embalming or cremation is necessary.
“I’m curious to see if green burials will be a hit in Kamloops. There’s lots of other cemeteries that are talking about adding them. I just got off the phone (yesterday) with a fellow from Salmon Arm talking about that very subject. It seems to be a hot topic right now, and I’m curious how successful that could be in the Kamloops market,” Doll says.
The city paid $20,000 for a consultant to create an updated Cemetery Master Plan, before it was adopted yesterday.
