Grave, social housing fees increase
Council’s costs increasing
Dying is about to become more expensive if the Timau district is your choice of final resting place.
Plot and interment prices throughout the district will increase by about 10 per cent from July 1, with the new adult fees being $770 for a plot, $860 for interment and concrete berms going from $155 to $230.
A Saturday afternoon funeral will cost an additional $50 at $400, while a funeral on Sunday or public holidays incurs a $700 fee.
The council’s management team recommended the increases to bring the district more into line with what other councils charge.
Weekly rentals for the council’s 236 social housing units will increase by $7 a week in the new financial year, and the council is flagging that tenants can expect further increases in July 2013.
There are waiting lists for most of the blocks of units at present.
Rentals have increased $5 a week since mid-2008. Social housing is self-funding and there is no claim on rates. The increased rentals equate to about $81,000 in additional revenue each year, but increases in insurance, rates and grounds maintenance for the coming year are expected to cost about $50,000.
Councillors have agreed a further $5 a week rent increase will come into effect for all units on July 1, 2013, and from that time those units that have been insulated and/or had bathrooms updated will incur a further $5 a week increase as well.
Discussing the rent increases at the recent budget meeting, some councillors believed the additional $5 rental for upgraded units should be charged from July 1 this year, but that was lost in favour of giving tenants more than a year’s notice of the increases.
At present rentals for
single units range from $80 to $105 a week and from $90 to $120 for double units. More than 70 per cent of the tenants are over 65.
Cr Terry Kennedy wanted tenants reassessed every two years to ensure they were still eligible for a council unit, but no other council- lors supported such a move. Cr Jane Coughlan said they had to have met council criteria to have rented a unit in the first place.