The soaring costs of that final exit
The cost of Auckland’s real estate can follow you even to the grave it seems. The latest fees for services at Auckland Council cemeteries are out but not all plots are created equal.
At Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland, the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere, burial fees for a single or double depth plot for an adult will cost $1108 this year. That’s about $16 more than last year and about $70 more than five years ago.
But a plot in the Chapel View area right at the front of the cemetery will cost a family $4133 — $61 more expensive than last year. Plots in the Waitakere View area at the top of the hill are even more expensive at $5166. And if you want to be indoors, a burial in the public chambers mausoleum will cost $7254.
Those costs are similar to other big Auckland Council cemeteries around the city, including the Manukau Memorial Gardens in Papatoetoe.
So an average burial plot and service will cost just over $5200 — a figure the Funeral Directors Association of NZ says is too expensive.
Chief executive Katrina Shanks said they were concerned that for people from low socio-economic backgrounds, coming up with $5000 in four or five days was a near impossible task.
“Our concern is that it’s taking away people’s choice — that they can be buried or cremated — and we think that’s tragic when that basic choice is taken away from a family because it’s unaffordable.”
Other fees are added if a burial is held on the weekend ($420), a public holiday ($980) or if it is held after 3.30pm ($465).
And make sure you’re on time because another $103 will be added to the bill if you arrive 30 minutes after the booked time.
More than 1500 burials, 2800 cremations and 900 ash interments are carried out at Auckland Council cemeteries each year.
The council manages 53 cemeteries around the city — 30 of which are operational.
Under the Burial and Cremations Act, purchasers of a plot have exclusive rights to use it for burial for up to 60 years.
Auckland Council acting manager for cemeteries, Ian Stupple, said the fees charged for a burial plot covered the ongoing maintenance of it as well as surrounding ground.
Shanks said the affordability issue was one they regularly talked to the council about with the most recent meeting being last month.
“Our funeral directors hear it every single day. They’ve got a family who desperately wants to bury their loved one and it’s unaffordable for them, so cremation and scattering of the ashes because it’s not as an expensive option for families.
“In communities in a lower [income] demographic, I think you’ve got to have solutions for them which are affordable. Saying $5000 is affordable is ridiculous.” ADULT CREMATION: ADULT BURIAL: Single or double depth Triple depth West, North Lawn as well as Hebrew, Muslim and urupa areas Chapel View Waitakere View Mausoleum public chambers West Lawn Urupa North Lawn Muslim Hebrew