Over the next five years the price of a plot at the Whistler Cemetery is set to almost triple.
The current price for an adult burial in Whistler, which includes a plot, care fund, internment and marker placement, is $810.
Over the next five years that fee is set to gradually increase to $2,391.
This will bring Whistler’s burial fees in line with prices in other parts of the Lower Mainland.
Currently in North Vancouver the same burial costs would be about $2,660, in West Vancouver $2,880 and in Squamish $1,800.
The average for those three municipalities is $2,447, which still places Whistler’s proposed fees below the average.
The cemetery fees have not been revised in seven years. The municipality has been subsidizing cemetery operations and this fee proposal will bring Whistler’s fees in line with other municipal cemetery fees.
Cremation fees are also set to rise steeply. They will more than quadruple in the next five years.
Currently Whistler residents pay $170 for cremation. Under the proposed fee structure they’ll pay $795 in the future. Again, this number is less than the average for cremation fees in North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Squamish. The average for those three municipalities is $895.
The recommendation was put before council at the last council meeting, on Dec. 16, and was supported.
The Cemeteries Branch has recommended a gradual increase over the next five years.
