- The cost of burial is going up in Mona
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
It will cost more to be buried in Mona than it has done in the past.
Mona City Council members adopted new charges for the cemetery at meeting on Tuesday.
"Because of increased costs to Mona City, in both labor and materials, it is necessary for the city to increase its various cemetery fees to both residents and non-residents," said Bill Mills, mayor.
The council met in a special meeting a week ago to discuss the need for raising the fees.
"The public was invited to attend," said Mills. "We would have liked to have had some citizen input."
However, the only persons to attend, other than council members, were those who had some responsibility for the cemetery. Nevertheless, said Mills, the council members had a good discussion and determined that it was necessary to raise the fees.
"The new fees will go into place the first of January 2013," said Mills.
One burial space for a resident will now cost $200, opening and closing a grave will cost $250, perpetual care will cost $75 and a deed transfer will cost $25.
Non-residents will be charged more for a burial plot. That fee for those not living in the community or nearby will pay $800 per lot.
Burial plots costs, prior to the new fees, were $100 for residents of the community and $400 for non-residents. Each of the figures doubled.
"We will consider those who live in the outskirts of the town, in the county, nearby, as residents," said Mills.
The increased non-resident fee was set to protect the plots for those who are members of the community. The resident fee, in comparison with other nearby cemeteries still offers a bargain for local residents.
The same is true of perpetual care, though the fee was raised by $25.
"Perpetual care at $50 a plot, was not looking toward the future," said Jeff Hearty, council member. "It is still an incredible bargain at $75."
Construction of the new section required the installation of approximately 1,332 linear feet of 6-inch by 12-inch reinforced concrete curb wall, 7,890 square feet of compacted road base and gravel driveways, installation of a sprinkler system and preparation approximately 30,081 square feet for planting with hydro seed.
The expansion project was completed at the cemetery in October even though it was not required that the work be done until Thanksgiving.
Dutson Supply, represented by Troy Painter, bid $28,621.30 and completed the work nearly one month early.
The Mona City cemetery needed to be added to so that there would be enough room for future burials.
"We were running out of room," said Mills.
Early in the process, council members considered a map of the existing cemetery showing plots that had been used and plots that were still to be used.
There were also plots that could never be used because of burials on each side of the plot which used more than the allotted space. Therefore, those plots were no longer wide enough for a standard burial.
A burial plot needs to be 42-inches wide and 100 inches long with18-inches on each side.
The new area will now allow approximately 50 rows of burial spaces.
Seeding of the plots will take place in the spring. The sprinkler system is completed and was tested before it was prepared for winter. There will be 300-feet that needs to be seeded.
The result of the expansion are that there are now 240 more lots.
Frank Riding, council member, and Everd Squire, finance director, were assigned by the council and mayor to head the project expansion.
"It is important for those who want to transfer a burial plot to know that they will have to show a deed in order to make the transfer," said Jonathan Jones, council member. |
