Commissioners Court increases County Cemetery fees

By:  Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Maverick County Commissioners Court held a special meeting on Thursday,March 27, 2014, at the Commissioners Courtroom, located at the Maverick County Courthouse Annex Building, 500 Quarry Street, in Eagle Pass, Texas, approving an increase of fees for the Maverick County Cemetery.

County Commissioners unanimously approved to increase the fees for the opening and closing of cemetery plots at the Maverick County Cemetery from $275 to the new $450 fee.

Originally, the fee increase was recommended to be established for non-business hour rates such as weekends and holidays which was first discussed last month and tabled to the March 27th meeting for further study and analysis to assure a fair rate to those seeking the services for cemetery plot openings and closings.

Maverick County Planning Director, April Rodriguez, presented Commissioners Court an analysis of the expenses for service and a comparison of the differences in prices between the County Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery in the community.  Rodriguez recommended to Commissioners Court that the County Cemetery fees be increased from $275 to $450 because the County was spending approximately $425 to $450 in labor costs for opening and closing cemetery plots within the County Cemetery during non-business hours.  The proposed rate increase was initially to be implemented for non-business hours only.

But after an analytical discussion on the expenses in its entirety on what the costs are for Maverick County to open and close gravesites or cemetery plots in the County Cemetery, Commissioners Court decided to approve the recommended rate of $450 for both regular business hours and non-business hours to offset the true costs of labor to the County whenever opening and closing a cemetery plot within the County Cemetery to avoid the County sustaining a financial loss every time it sent County employees to open and close a cemetery plot.

It was noted during the presentation by Maverick County Planning Department Director April Rodriguez that the local Catholic Cemetery charges a flat fee of $1,000 for these same services of opening and closing a cemetery plot.