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Council adopts cemetery fee schedule, moves $165,000 toward expansion and clarifies perpetual care use
Summary
The Mendon City Council adopted Ordinance 2025‑01 updating cemetery fees, increased the perpetual‑care allocation and approved moving $165,000 from the general reserve into perpetual care to fund expansion work. Sexton Eric Bowen and councilors discussed implementation details and boundaries for utilities.
The Mendon City Council voted to adopt an updated cemetery fee schedule and committed city funds toward expansion after a public hearing.
Ordinance and fee changes: Council approved Ordinance 2025‑01, which sets the resident full burial plot price at $450 (of which $180 is assigned to perpetual care) and the non‑resident full plot price at $900 (of which $360 is assigned to perpetual care). Other fees for infant plots, cremation spaces, transfers, disinterment and grave opening/closing remained unchanged.
Funding the expansion: During the meeting the mayor announced an administrative plan to move $165,000 from the city general reserve fund into the perpetual care fund to support cemetery expansion infrastructure (roads, utilities and related site work). The mayor said the money will be placed in perpetual care to meet statutory/accounting rules but directed that the majority of those funds be used for the new expansion area’s infrastructure.
Sexton and staff clarifications: Sexton Eric Bowen answered operational questions and confirmed that certain activities — for example, digging and interim decisions about who performs grave opening/closing — are within the sexton’s discretion and standard practice. Council members and staff agreed to clarify ordinance language so future fee reviews are explicitly scheduled (for example, on an annual or multi‑year basis) rather than left open to ad hoc change.
Remaining steps: Staff will work with Sexton Bowen and council liaisons to detail line items and a phased work plan for expansion, including irrigation/sprinkler impacts and locations of two existing transmission water lines that constrain burial areas. The council directed staff to provide additional cost breakdowns and project phasing at a subsequent meeting.
Ending: Ordinance 2025‑01 passed in council vote; staff will begin planning for cemetery expansion using the newly directed funds and return with a detailed implementation plan.
