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Cemeteries aren’t safe from recession

Decline in advance plot sales has many graveyards struggling to cover maintenance costs.

John Goldsberry finishes the foundation for a memorial marker on a grave at Millville Cemetery on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Hanover Township.

Staff photo by Nick Graham John Goldsberry finishes the foundation for a memorial marker on a grave at Millville Cemetery on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Hanover Township.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 11:08 AM Sunday, November 1, 2009

A recession may be financially difficult to live through, but so is the cost of death.

Most cemeteries depend on the cost of graves and the advance sale of plots for maintenance and expansion. But with many residents finding themselves strapped for cash, they are cutting costs, including those associated with death.

The evidence is all over the Internet, with online classifieds sites like Craigslist.org full of listings like this one for plots at Butler County Memorial Park in Hamilton:

“Must sell. Includes plot, concrete vault 16x60 and bronze marker 24x12 and opening and closing. Asking $2,500 CASH. It is in front of a huge cement statue of the Lord’s Prayer in the garden of devotion total worth is $4,600.00. Buyer is responsible for $95 dollar transfer of title fee.”

Advance plot sales are especially important to the upkeep of a cemetery as well as its ability to develop more land for burial. John Goldsberry, sexton for Millville Cemetery in Hanover Twp., said future plot sales have been down lately as fewer people can afford to pay in advance and life insurance policies that may normally foot the bill are dropped. He’s concerned about what will happen as they inch closer to filling the 18 acres they already have developed.

“It takes a lot of money to open up a section with the drainage and the clearing and paving the roadway,” he said. “I’m looking to add a flat marker section; that way you can drop the price.”

There also is all of the money that goes into maintaining a graveyard. It can take several days to trim, rake and mow, plus there are equipment costs like backhoes to dig the graves and fuel to power everything.

“People think you are just making all this money because with a grave you are just burying a body,” Goldsberry said. “But it is a lot more than just digging.”

By state law, 10 percent of income must be put into a perpetual care fund for maintenance. The return on those investments is used to pay for daily operations.

Terry Roberts, manager of Oxford Cemetery, said in good times, they are lucky to break-even.

“We’ve had times where we have had to tap other investment funds, which, trust me, are not very big,” she said. “With donations we usually break even and that is if we even break even. Every dime that comes in goes toward operation.”

Cremations  vs. burial

Cash-strapped families are increasingly turning toward cremation, a more affordable option at half the cost of a traditional funeral and burial.

In Ohio, cremation rates have increased 29.64 percent, still under the national average of 34.89 percent but in the middle of state rates, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

However, local cemeteries report the number of burials versus cremations is just about level with past years as issues with space and religious affiliations are not creating much gap in pricing.

At Rose Hill Burial Park in Hamilton, Mark White, sales director, said burials still make up about 80 percent of their business, and he’s only seen a slight uptick in the number of cremation interments.

“One of the things in this area and at our cemetery is we have 50 acres yet to be developed and in some areas where cremation has grown, it’s because there is not really space available so that adds to the cost of burial,” he said.

Roberts said at Oxford Cemetery they have added a columbarium to the grounds to meet the higher demand for cremation. The converted chapel includes more than 60 niches for residents to display urns.

“Gradually we are seeing an increase in the number of cremation interments. There is a lot more now than there was in 1998. It’s a less expensive alternative,” she said.

At Middletown’s Woodside Cemetery, which provides cremation services for Butler County, General Manager Fred Wehr said numbers have stayed steady at 18 percent for several years, likely due more to local religious affiliations that do not allow for cremation.

However, he could see that number spike as death rates increase with the baby boomer generation.

“There is going to come a time when cremations and number of deaths cross in the 2020s, meaning there is going to be an equal number of full casket burials and cremations but it is going to be very spotty depending on the location,” he said.

Wehr did say that either form can be expensive, depending on some of the high-end items people use, like a mausoleum crypt or pricey urn. Woodside along with other cemeteries have been hurting with sales for awhile since Wehr said Butler County has been depressed since the AK Steel lockout and “people are not spending a lot of money on high-end products.”

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Drive 11 miles south on Winton Road to a National Historic Landmark that's been a non-profit organization since 1845. We have 733 beautiful acres; only 400 acres are developed; plus an additional 160 acres near Tri-County. We'll have space for a very long time. We have a beautiful funeral home on the premises that offers very reasonably priced services - Check out the Spring Grove Family; Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, the Gwen Mooney Funeral Home, and Oak Hill Cemetery.

Heidi Bruzina
10:03 AM, 11/2/2009

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We're in the country, not Paris. We have space. In 200 years, they will just move the **** thing. How can you be selfish if you are dead? Next of kin make the decisions. Funerals are for the living and not the dead. Do what you want. Either way it is getting expensive. The cheapest alternative is medical donation. I did not have any money when my mom died. I just couldn't do that to her. I just went cheaper with no viewing and a graveside service. Not many showed up anyway, had to live lives.

Jeffrey John Hodapp
9:09 AM, 11/2/2009

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Any business that relies on invested monies to aid in keeping costs relatively fair has suffered over the past 18 months and the sad thing about it is that the businesses, like the rest of us, will never be able to recoup what we have lost. As the economy improves, people will be unable to understand why prices are still too high compared to 2 or 3 years ago. It's simply that the funds normally reserved to protect against price increases have turned to dust just as we eventually will.

RP McMurphy
3:58 PM, 11/1/2009

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When one way to spend eternity becomes cool, they have to raise the prices. Whats the difference between a warriors burial and cremation? The price. You can't have a warriors burial in America, its not "healthy" So why do we bury bodies in the ground, taking up more space, and having graveyards get so large they eat up small towns? Its expensive, for now, but I will be cremated. Its almost like a warriors burial right? Taking up space when you are gone and dead is selfish.

mdizzie
12:47 PM, 11/1/2009

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