Erik Lees of Lees and Associates Landscape Architects and Planners, suggested a three per cent fee increase for burial plots at the town cemetery during a presentation to town council on Jan. 27.
Lees, who had been working with town staff since June 2013 on the town's cemetery services operations, suggested the rate increase to keep pace with inflation and to provide more revenue to offset the expenses of providing final resting places.
Currently, one adult burial plot costs $550 for Town of Olds residents. In a report prepared for town officials, Lees found that Olds compared favourably to other Central Alberta communities for burial plots, which ranged in price from a low of $507 in Didsbury to a high of $1,050 in Carstairs for an adult plot. The price comparison also included other services such as cremation and columbaria ñ vaults used to house urns ñ as well as prices for youths.
Lees reported the town is currently running a $65,000 deficit on cemetery operations.
Asked by Coun. Wade Bearchell about pricing of burial plots, Lees said during the preparation of the report that price structure was not one of the items his company discussed with the funeral providers.
"We did not run the specific price increases past industry,î he said.
Lees encouraged the town to increase marketing efforts for the cemetery in order to increase revenues.
While Coun. Harvey Walsh said he thought the presentation was well done, he added more information should have been given on cost comparisons for commemorating people.
"We are reluctant to say how you relate to (other communities),î Lees responded. "I would counsel council against that because of (not) comparing apples to apples.î
One of the other recommendations Lees made was that every gravesite should be mapped and included in the town's Geographic Information System and that a mobile application be developed to locate specific gravesites.
In response to a question from Coun. Mary Ann Overwater, Lees said environmental burials are on the rise. He added that particular option has been strongest in Western Canada.
"It's a trend that's taking off. It's been an interesting observation over the past 10 years.î
While he said that if present trends continue, the town would have enough cemetery space for the next 80 to 100 years, Lees added more of that space should be set aside for columbaria.
Lees told councillors that the cemetery's reserve fund should be converted to a perpetual care fund in which maintenance costs for items such as mowing grass and repairs on fencing should be paid for from the interest generated on the fund.
He also suggested the cemetery should become a "burial parkî and should become part of the community's parks and trails system. He suggested $425,000 be set aside for the development of Phase 1 of this burial park concept over the next 10 to 15 years.
In an interview following the presentation, Lees said the purpose of the plan was to review cemetery operations to make sure best practices are being followed.
"Olds scored quite high for a town of its size. The cost recovery ratio is good, staff are top of the list,î he said.
Mayor Judy Dahl said following the meeting that she was pleased to hear a recommendation about purchasing software to guide cemetery finances.
"I was very happy to hear that the assessment of management practices to update the financial records management was recommended. I've always believed that we fell short in that area,î she said. "Overall, the recommendations that they prepared for the Town of Olds were very clear and council will work with administration to put a policy forward or perhaps a bylaw review.î
