Public cemeteries raising fees

Cities and counties across the United States say rising costs and more cremations are forcing them to raise fees for plots and burials in public cemeteries. In Brunswick, Ga., getting a grave dug and filled during the week is now $900, an increase from $200 that took effect in May, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Grand County Cemetery Maintenance District in Utah plans to increase some fees fourfold. "This is just crazy," said Sheldon Hefner, who used to own a funeral business in the Moab, Utah, area. "Families here don't need to be exposed to those high costs." Public cemeteries cannot make money selling headstones or providing other services as private ones do. But they are now paying more for fuel and machinery and often getting less money from general revenues in the current economic climate. More people are selecting cremation instead of burial. "Municipal cemeteries really don't have many options," Robert Fells, executive director of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association in Sterling, Va., told the Journal.