Former mayor slams Hume Council decision to stop cemetery support
Hume councillors will stop providing paid support for the Sunbury and Bulla cemeteries because it is not a “core service”. The move has been labelled “disappointing” by a trust member, but a councillor says the decision is a financial one.
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A former Hume mayor has hit out at a council decision to stop providing support services to Sunbury and Bulla cemetery trusts.
Councillors voted to put an end to an arrangement that saw them providing operational and administrative support to the trusts after an officer report deemed it wasn’t a “core service” for Hume Council.
Former councillor and Sunbury trust member Jack Ogilvie, who served on the council for more than two decades, said he wasn’t happy with the decision.
“We are disappointed that the council has made this decision,” he said.
Hume chief executive Domenic Isola said it had written to potential alternate providers to take over the trusts from June next year.
“While council is unable to determine who the Trusts will proceed with for future services, council wrote to both the Greater Metropolitan General Cemeteries Trust and the Geelong Cemeteries Trusts seeking interest in providing operational and administrative support services to one or both trusts,” he confirmed.
“They’ve done a very good job over the past years. We don’t want it in other people’s hands, we want them to continue what they’ve been doing.”
The agreement saw the Sunbury Cemetery Trust pay $20,000 annually, and the Bulla Cemetery Trust front up $12,000 per year, according to councillor reports.
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The fee covers things like lawn maintenance, customer service inquiries and booking funerals.
Cr Jack Medcraft, who voted to stop servicing the trust, said the decision was “commercial”.
“The cemetery trust has done a great job, but the commercial reality is that you’ve got to look at what’s best for the users and the area,” he said.
“We want to have a larger scale management than what council can offer.”
Sunbury Residents Association president Malcolm Thompson said the group was “disappointed” in the council’s decision to stop providing support services.