Costs council $4 million to unload its cemeteries

THEY’VE put a price on what it will cost the new managers of the San Remo and Wonthaggi cemeteries to maintain these facilities into the future.

And it’s that figure of $4,075,000 that the Bass Coast Shire Council is going to hand over when the two facilities are amalgamated into the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT).

It’s a big number, but at the December council meeting where councillors voted 7:1 to give up managing the facilities, they assured us, we would be better off in the long run. We hope so.

Cr Geoff Ellis was the dissenting voice.

Pending the outcome of community consultation, to take place later in January, and finalising agreement with SMCT, Council will write to the Department seeking approval from the Minister for the abolition and amalgamation of the trusts.

Who will own the cemeteries in the future?

Will they always have to be maintained as cemeteries?

Could graves be removed and the land (or some of the land) be sold off for housing?

Are these even the best sites for cemeteries in Wonthaggi and San Remo in the future?

These are questions you might put to the Council and the new managers.

Prior to voting on the proposed amalgamation with the organisation that manages several cemeteries in Melbourne, a council officer reported that there had been an extensive review of Council’s involvement in cemetery operations, was presented to the March 2023 meeting.

It was decided to commence negotiations to determine the requirements for potential transfer of management and the shire has now completed that process.

Cr David Rooks recommended the approach to council.

“It's not council’s core business to get involved in cemetery management, we are inefficient in that area and as far as resources go and finances, it's best left to groups such as the Southern Metropolitan Cemetery Trust who are a business that basically specialises in this area and they gain their economies of scale and are very good in this area,” said Cr Rooks.

“So, for us it's a lot of money to handover at this point in time, but it’s a legal obligation as far as meeting our obligations for perpetual maintenance.

“But in the long term, Council will be better off. It will decrease our operating expenses in the long term, and will offset that loss that we're making initially.”

Cr Michael Whelan supported his colleague’s remarks.

“When I became a councillor seven years ago, I found myself on two cemetery trusts with no prior interest in cemeteries at all and certainly no expertise. That's not a good way to run cemeteries, quite frankly. I think you need to have a closer association with the actual business,” said Cr Whelan.

“I think it's an improvement in that respect, that we'll have people that clearly are experts in this area, managing these facilities. The other thing, while it's a big outlay for us, of over $4 million, actuarially, we would be in a much better place than what we would be if we continue,” he said.

Cr Brett Tessari agreed.

Prior to the vote that severed a long association between the cemeteries and the local council, the Mayor Cr Clare Le Serve said she wanted the Council’s appreciation to the voluntary trust members, and members of ‘Friends’ groups and their families to be recorded in the minutes.