The City of Prince George will not be making changes to operating hours or fees at Memorial Park Cemetery.
At tonight’s meeting (Monday) City Council voted to continue using the existing industry standard process for charging a fee for services provided outside of regular hours.
Currently the city charges a $764 fee for burial services done on Saturdays, which covers staff overtime and equipment.
Council was also presented with the options of expanding the cemetery’s hours of operation to six days per week with existing staff levels, hiring a new employee for a Tuesday to Saturday shift, or amend the Comprehensive Fees and Charges Bylaw to remove the additional Saturday fees but continue to pay overtime without any additional expenses from the customer.
Manager of Parks and Solid Waste Management Sean LeBrun noted throughout the first three quarters of 2023, the city had paid approximately $7,000 to $8,000 in overtime for internments done on Saturdays.
“Internments that are done on Saturday are prepped usually on Thursday or Friday,” LeBrun explained.
“The excavator would dig on the Friday so work is minimized on the Saturday. Staff would only come in at the time of the funeral or the service, and then they would do the backfill and the lowering and that part of the actual internment is done on the Saturday.”
LeBrun also noted that in the past three years, there’s only been one internment done on a Sunday, but it was required due to religious reasons.
“I would love to make Saturdays more affordable, but at the same time if we make Saturdays the same price or cheaper, everyone’s going to choose Saturday,” said Councillor Kyle Sampson.
“It’s a lose-lose.”
“I still have a really hard time charging more on a Saturday,” said Councillor Tim Bennett.
“I recognize there are additional costs, I recognize all of that, and I think it’s a balance of what is rational versus what my heart says, and in this case I just have a really hard time charging more on a Saturday.”
Bennett was the lone opposer, as council voted 7-1 to continue with charging a fee outside of regular hours.
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