Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Parks and Recreation Department

TO:	Mark Hecker, Supt. Parks & Maintenance
FROM:	Mitch Young, District #3
Date:	August 27, 2007
RE:	Recommended Fee Increases for City Cemeteries

The City of Lawrence owns and operates two public cemeteries, Oak Hill and Maple Grove. In May of 2005, the City was named the temporary receiver of Memorial Park Cemetery and continues to operate it under receivership. The City last increased its cemetery fees in 2003. Due to the rising costs of personnel and equipment, and based upon a survey of other municipally owned cemeteries providing similar services, staff recommends increasing our cemetery rates as indicated below.

Services Provided

The City provides “opening” and “closing” services. “Opening” includes coordinating and meeting with the funeral home to determine what services are needed; examining cemetery records to determine lot ownership and checking files for special instructions; accepting and receipting the interment fee; entering transactions into the City’s AS400 computer system; creating an interment order for the digging crew; laying out the grave with metal or concrete lot pins; removing snow from the burial site, when necessary, and clearing and sanding the roads as weather dictates; arranging for the delivery of all equipment to the burial space (truck, backhoe, shovels, rakes, and lumber); excavating the space; hauling away excess dirt; covering the space; removing all equipment from the site; cleaning up the area; contacting the vault company and advising of the location of the grave site, and removing water from the site prior to the service, when necessary.

“Closing” a burial space includes assisting the funeral director and family with the casket; assisting the vault company after the service; filling the grave space; replacing flowers and other items left at the grave site; adding additional top soil within two weeks of the burial to address grave site settling; seeding the grave site in spring and fall; and adding soil when needed as the area continues to settle.

These services are provided regardless of the weather conditions or any other circumstances. The City also sells burial spaces.

Comparison Data

A survey of other municipally owned cemeteries providing similar services is summarized below.

Lawrence cemetery rates

Type of Service	Current Rates		Recommended Rates All Cemeteries
	Oak Hill & Maple Grove	Memorial Park
Adult-weekday	$450	$550	$550
Adult-weekday after 2:00 p.m.	$500	$800	$800
Adult-Saturday	$700	$800	$800
Adult-Saturday after 11:00 a.m. (3:00 p.m. for Memorial Park)	$800	$1,050	$1,000
Child	$275	No charge	$275
Cremation	$275	$300	$275
Disinterment	$600	$1,100	$1,000
Grave space-adult	$500	$695-$995	$600
Grave space-infant	$150	No charge	$150

Rate Survey for other municipally owned cemeteries

City	Rate for Adult Weekday Opening and Closing	Grave Space Cost
Olathe, KS	$440[1]	$660
North Platte, NE	$610[2]	$730
Independence, MO	$800[3]	$1,050
Iowa City, IA	$500[4]	$600

[1] Rates anticipated to go up in January 2008. Additional charges of approximately $125 for tent and equipment charges which the City does not provide..

[3] Rates scheduled to increase in March 2008 to $1,000 Monday-Friday and $1,200 on Saturday.

[4] Additional charges of $140 extra maintenance for adult burial with no vault, $50 for optional tend and $75 for optional lowering device.