Waterloo looking at cemetery partnership
Posted Oct 4, 2016 05:41:50 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City of Waterloo is casting an eye toward a bigger footprint in the local cemetery business.
It’s considering hooking up with a local funeral home as the business becomes more and more competitive and that’s taking a bite out of the city’s revenues.
It does operate a crematorium, but now funeral homes are doing the same thing.
City council has voted to issue a request for proposals.
Councillor Mark Whalley wanted to make sure the move doesn’t lock the city into anything binding and he was given those assurances.
Cemetery services manager, Bryce Crouse tells the Record, “It’s very much uncharted territory in many respects for us and it’s very exploratory – we’re looking to open up what options we have and kind of find out what values are out there and let council make decisions.”
Close to 82,000 deaths have been recorded in the region over the past 25 years, but the city’s Parkview Cemetery only saw 2,700 caskets and 4,800 cremations.
