Cemetery fees

May 08, 2008 10:48 am

— The Logansport City Council is on the right track with its plan to increase fees at its two municipally owned cemeteries.
At this week’s meeting, the council passed an ordinance to increase the fee for a plot by 10 percent in each of the next four years. If approved next month on second reading, the cost of a cemetery plot would be $542 next year, and it would reach $721.40 by 2012.
The annual budget for the cemeteries totals $350,000. At their current level, the fees bring in about $100,000.
According to a 2005 article in Forbes magazine, the average cost of a burial plot in the United States was $4,000. Even after four consecutive 10 percent price increases, Logansport’s price will be nowhere near that.
There is, we think, a legitimate role for city government to play in maintaining municipal cemeteries, and it’s reasonable that some portion of the expense ought to be borne by taxpayers.
Mount Hope Cemetery, which encompasses more than 225 acres, was established in 1857, while the smaller Ninth Street Cemetery was established in 1828. Ninth Street Cemetery is the final resting place of numerous Logansport pioneers and of veterans of wars from the Revolutionary War to Korea. Generations of Logansport residents are buried in these cemeteries, and it’s crucial that the city maintain this part of the community’s heritage.
Still, especially in a time of declining tax revenues, it makes sense for the city council to work to bridge the gap between income and expenses.
We applaud the city council for its efforts, and we encourage its members to continue their work to boost non-tax revenues at the cemeteries.