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Death and burial expensive in Auckland

Author
Michael Sergel ,
Publish Date
Thu, 2 Jul 2015, 4:34PM
(Stockxchng)
(Stockxchng)

Death and burial expensive in Auckland

Author
Michael Sergel ,
Publish Date
Thu, 2 Jul 2015, 4:34PM

Funeral directors believe changes to Auckland's burial fees will force many families to choose cremation instead.

Auckland Council has increased and standardised its fees to help cover the cost of maintaining and expanding cemeteries.

Some fees have skyrocketed - the price of an internment in Papakura has almost doubled.

Funeral Directors Association chief Katrina Shanks said Work and Income's 2000-dollar subsidy only covers a fraction of the new costs.

She said many Maori and Pacific families are being priced out of the market of a traditional burial.

Burial plots are on average 8-percent more expensive, and ash plots are 14-percent pricier. The cost of internment has increased on average 132-percent.

Katrina Shanks said the increase is disappointing, and will have a major impact on low-income families and some minority cultures.

“The council has a monopoly on cemeteries, that’s why these increases are unfair," she said.

"Families have nowhere else they can go unless they want to travel outside the region."

Ms Shanks believes the increase may be a breach of the law.

“The council is required by law to provide facilities and services that are affordable to everyone," she said.

"These increases are taking affordability out of the reach of many."

Mayor Len Brown has previously said costs should be covered through user fees, and ratepayer shouldn't be subsidising other people's burials.

That will affect Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island the most.

The council is increasing the number of burial plots at Waikumete Cemetery, New Zealand's largest cemetery, amid concerns it will run out of plots by 2019.

Councillors have also earmarked 46-million over the next ten years for buying more burial land.


The fee increases

• Manukau Memorial Gardens burial plot: from $3464 to $4000, up $536 (15%), plus interment $1072
• Papakura burial plot: $1678 to $2000, up $322 (19%), plus interment $1400, up $857 (158%)
• Papakura 0-12 years burial plot: $543 to $2000, up $1457 (268%), plus interment $550, up $176 (47%)
• Franklin children burial plot: $593 to $1000, up $407 (69%), plus interment $550, up $58 (12%)
• Franklin standard burial interment: $797 to $1400, up $603 (76%). Single burial interment: $630 to $1400, up $770 (122%)
• Waikaraka ash plot garden: $647 to $1000, up $353 (55%), plus interment $340
• Waikaraka interment: $704 to $1350, up $646 (92%)
• Waikumete ash plot garden: $1708 to $2533, up $825 (48%), plus interment $300

 

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