Demorest approves $800 cemetery plots for nonresidents, $500 rate for locals

Demorest’s mayor and council unanimously approved a new two-tier cemetery plot price structure on July 2, 2024, setting the cost at $500 for current city residents, city employees and retirees and $800 for people who live outside the city. The 4-0 action came during the council’s regular meeting that day.

The decision matters to families making burial arrangements because the price of a plot now turns partly on a buyer’s connection to Demorest. It replaces the single $400 plot price described during the council’s earlier discussion, raising the cost for every group considered and placing the largest increase on nonresidents.

Earlier on July 2, council members took up the question in a work session, discussing an increase from $400 and considering a $500 price for current citizens alongside an $800 price for noncitizens. That discussion preceded the regular-session motion later the same day, when the council approved the resident, employee and retiree rate and the higher nonresident rate.

For current residents, city employees and retirees, the approved price is $500 per plot. People living outside Demorest face the $800 rate. The meeting records identify the council’s action and unanimous vote, but they do not provide individual council members’ reasoning or show public comments from prospective buyers or families affected by the change.

The rate structure was approved, not merely proposed: signed regular-session minutes record a motion and a unanimous 4-0 vote. The work-session record documents the earlier discussion of raising the former $400 price. Those records do not state an effective date, spell out how residency or retiree eligibility will be verified, or provide a revised cemetery fee schedule.

The next public clarification would be a city fee schedule, cemetery policy or later council record that states the rates in force and the rules for qualifying as a resident, employee or retiree. What remains undecided in the cited minutes is not the July 2 approval, but the administrative details families may need when purchasing a plot.