NEWS Burials go up in Top End
FAMILIES in the Greater Darwin area are choosing to bury their loved loves at an ever-increasing rate — bucking a national trend towards cremations.
Thorak Regional Cemetery is the only cemetery in the Top End with available plots.
It’s also very expensive to manage, deriving its main income from burials and cremations — with burials costing more than cremations.
A business paper presented to council staff at its Thorak Regional Cemetery board meeting on Wednesday said there were 186 cremations in the past financial year, fewer than the 199 in the year previous.
However, there was a 47 per cent increase in the number of people choosing burials — up from 94 in 2017-18 to 138 in 2018-19.
“This may be due to more promotion of our services by staff when talking with customers,” the report concluded.
When asked if staff were instructed to sell more burials to help recover costs — Litchfield Mayor Maree Bredhauer said they were simply being “diligent”.
“Council staff are diligent in taking the time to ensure customers are fully aware of the range of options available to them prior to purchasing, to avoid disappointments of services that they were not aware of,” she said.
“Families are now choosing extra depth options of graves to save on costs for future needs, reducing pre-purchased graves.”
For years, Ms Bredhauer has been calling on the NT Government to change how the cemetery is managed to ensure its long-term financial sustainability.
At present, Ms Bredhauer said funds didn’t cover the cost for renewal, replacement or improvements of infrastructure on the grounds.
“The financial reserves (savings) are low and once these have depleted, the cost for providing this regional service will be a liability for Litchfield ratepayers,” she said.
Darwin residents are still the highest users of the cemetery, making up 55 per cent of cremations and 66 per cent of burials performed.
To help manage costs, customers living outside of the Litchfield municipality are charged a 10 per cent administration fee.