GRAVE CONCERN
Interest from investments cemeteries get not covering maintenance expenses
Cemeteries are running out of space,
Even cemeteries are not sheltered from the tumult of international finance.
Historically low interest rates are reducing the amount of money flowing from the dedicated funds cemeteries rely on to pay maintenance expenses, forcing them to turn to new income to maintain existing grounds.
“We couldn’t survive, in other words, on just the investment, because of the low interest rates,” said Margaret Schidoi, the accountant at St. John’s Norway Cemetery, a 14hectare (35-acre) property in the Upper Beaches.
“And it’s not just 35 acres of grass,” said director of cemetery ministries Cheryl Palmer, gesturing to the rows and rows of tombstones. About 80,000 remains are interred here, and the cemetery is rapidly reaching capacity.
But even after the last grave is dug, maintenance of the existing grounds must continue in perpetuity — grass must be cut, snow cleared, tombstones set upright.
To pay for these long-term expenses, all cemeteries in Ontario must set aside 40 per cent of the sale of every burial plot, putting the money in a dedicated trust fund.
That capital cannot be touched, so cemeteries rely on the interest paid out each year.
Richard Evans is the manager of St. John’s Dixie Cemetery in Mississauga, which recently reshuffled its investments in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.
“We were all affected in terms of our funds,” Evans said.
The four-hectare cemetery has $4 million socked away to maintain its 7,500 burial plots, which Evans described as a healthy fund for a cemetery that size.
But cemeteries across the province are feeling the pinch as low interest rates slow the stream of cash from the dedicated upkeep funds. “The interest that we’re earning on those funds are certainly down over the last number of years,” said Gary Carmichael, a spokesman for the Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals. “Therefore, we have to offset some of our maintenance through general revenues.” For cemeteries approaching capacity, that income is increasingly coming from cremations. In the Greater Toronto Area, there are about two cremations for every burial, Carmichael said, a ratio which has been steadily rising as cremations have gained popularity. At St. John’s Norway, cremations have increased year-over-year as the number of burials decline. There are more than 800 cremations annually, compared to only two dozen lot purchases last year. “Cemeteries without a crematorium can’t afford to be considering it a business on its own,” Palmer said. “If they’re selling between 25 and 50 lots a year, that’s not a business. That’s not going to keep them going.” If a cemetery cannot pay its upkeep bills, it becomes “abandoned,” and is turned over to the local municipality. There are at least 17 such sites in Toronto, several of which still serve as parks maintained by city staff. As for Toronto’s remaining active cemeteries, prices have nowhere to go but up.