Country cemeteries offer much cheaper burials
IT’S much cheaper to be buried out of town, writes XAVIER DUFF.
A LOWER cost of living is one of the many consolations to living in the country but it might surprise some to know the cost of dying is lower, too.
An analysis of burial costs show small country cemeteries charge a fraction of the fees the big city cemeteries do.
And as congestion and urban sprawl continues to drive up costs for city cemeteries, the gap is only likely to get bigger.
Cemetery fees are based on a complex formula largely determined by land values, which explains the higher fees in urban-based cemeteries.
While all cemetery trusts are not-for-profit, the larger urban, or Class A, cemeteries are professionally run with paid staff whereas the small Class B cemeteries are run by volunteers with professional fees mostly limited to contractors engaged to dig graves or monumental masons installing headstones.
There are a range of fees depending on the type of burial, which ranges from a traditional grave and headstone to burying cremated remains in a memorial lawn.
The main costs include the purchase of the plot for the grave, the cost of digging the grave, erecting the plaque or headstone and administrative fees.
Prices at Class B cemeteries vary from as low as $44 for the purchase of a plot and $145 for the grave digging, up to $2175 for a plot and $1230 for digging a grave.
This compares to Melbourne’s Class A cemeteries where the cost of a plot starts at $2620 and can be as high as $15,000 and the average cost of digging a grave is $2300.
President of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of Victoria David Crowe said all fees charged by cemeteries were regulated and approved by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr Crowe said with the higher fees of Class A cemeteries, particularly in Melbourne, there were reports of people looking to be buried in Class B cemeteries within 50km of Melbourne where fees were often substantially lower.
So could country cemeteries further afield expect a surge of demand from Melbourne families looking for a cheaper place to be buried?
Mr Crowe doesn’t think so as most people wanted their loved ones to be buried close to their communities and families.
Most small country cemeteries catered for their local communities with few outsiders being buried there but technically there was nothing preventing people being buried wherever they like, Mr Crowe said.
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