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City requests reduced survey fees for small cemetery replats; commissioners approve reduced-fee approach
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Summary
City of Pocatello parks director asked Bannock County to lower survey/application fees for two small Rest Lawn Cemetery replats after survey costs proved high. Staff proposed a block-based fee and the board approved the approach to reduce costs while covering county expenses.
Anne Butler, parks and recreation director for the City of Pocatello, told Bannock County commissioners that the city had submitted the third and fourth plats for Rest Lawn Cemetery and that survey fees for the small, tightly spaced burial lots were much higher than expected. "So what I'm here today to ask for is just some sort of fee adjustment for those services," Butler said, noting the city followed county protocol but that surveyor fees became “quite a bit more” than anticipated.
Elise Foster, the county subdivision planner, explained the county’s contracts with reviewing surveyors and gave fee scenarios. Using the existing per-burial-lot schedule would have produced a large bill; Foster said a reviewing surveyor offered to reduce fees if the application was received in April. Under a proposed alternative that charges by block rather than burial lot, Foster said the fee for the combined plats would be approximately $1,090 for one plat and about $1,290 for the larger plat, down from a substantially higher amount under the standard schedule.
Commissioners asked whether reduced fees might encourage relocation among cemeteries and raised concerns about long-term space and plotting practices at Rest Lawn and Mountain View. One commissioner said the county should "just cover our cost" and avoid subsidizing the work, while others emphasized keeping interment costs reasonable so families are not forced to seek other cemeteries.
After discussion, the board voted to accept the fee proposal as presented, instructing staff to proceed with the reduced-fee approach and the necessary contract amendment with the reviewing surveyor. The motion passed by voice vote.
The county and the city must still complete the formal application and any contract amendment; Foster said which reviewing surveyor is assigned depends on the month the application is submitted.
