Canaan Cemetery Trustees keep fees, reject discounts for multiple burials

The Canaan Cemetery Trustees voted unanimously on May 20 to keep the cemetery fee schedule adopted Feb. 23, 2026 (effective May 1) and to decline requests for discounted rates when families seek to inter multiple people at once. Ellie Davis, a trustee, moved the motion and Lynne A. Murray, chair, seconded it; the board approved the motion without dissent.

The vote followed a report from Ann Labrie, the town clerk, that cremations are outpacing full burials and that several families asked to inter multiple urns in single plots. Labrie said two families asked to inter three people at once and another asked to inter two, prompting trustees to reconsider whether to offer discounted rates for multiple burials.

Trustees debated both a financial and a practical question: whether a discounted rate was appropriate and whether more than one urn should be allowed in a single burial hole. The board concluded that discounts for multiple burials would not be offered and that multiple urns should not be placed in a single hole.

Cindy Neily, a trustee of the Trustees of Trust Funds, cited the deed language used in town records, saying the deeds state that “care and maintenance will be provided,” and explained how sale proceeds are currently handled: sale revenue now goes into a general cemetery maintenance fund that can be used across town cemeteries, while funds held in cemetery-specific trust accounts remain restricted to those cemeteries. The trustees did not change fees or make an exception for multiple interments.

The meeting minutes show the motion to keep fees (Motion 44) passed unanimously. The trustees confirmed their next meetings for June 1 and June 17, 2026, both at 4:30 p.m. at the Mascoma Senior Center.