But the Mayor of Belize City says it is law and a necessary one. Mayor Bradley today told us that the council isn't trying to put undertakers out of business - they're simply trying to ensure quality control at the cemetery:..
Mayor Darrell Bradley
"This should not offset in any significant way the undertaking business. I read the headlines in terms of the Amandala and certain concerns which were raised which are things that we do look at because we are mindful of the economic conditions, we are mindful that people need to make a living. But the undertaking business involves a wide gamut of services and what we are saying is that we will do the construction of the tombs. The cemetery comes under our jurisdiction and the maintenance of tombs is always our responsibility and what we have notice over several years is that the tombs themselves they are not built to standards and so when a tomb is constructed if it's not built to standards within a year, two year or five years period the City Council has to go in there for public health reasons and we have to reconstruct the tombs. What we are saying is that we have people who worked at the City Council cemetery; we have 8 people who worked currently at Lord Ridge and a lot of them currently they build the tombs themselves because the undertakers would subcontract the work out to them."
"What we are saying is that we will appropriate the responsibility since it's our responsibility to maintain the tombs and we will ensure that the tombs will be built at a certain standard. Residents of Belize should see a decrease in the cost."
Jules Vasquez
"The undertakers are in an uproar because yes they offer a range of services but these are their value added services which you all are now taking bread off their table."
Mayor Darrell Bradley
"Jules, I wouldn't agree with that because essentially the building of tombs is something I think that 80% of the tombs are built by City Council personnel anyway."
Jules Vasquez
"I spoke to Ms. Swasey, her son recently passed away and she was saying that she burying him along with his father and it will cost her $150 instead of $100."
Mayor Darrell Bradley
"Of course we were very mindful in terms of the increasing in any fees. We know the economic conditions; we know that this is at a time when people often times don't budget for death. It's an expense which is often times unexpected but all the fees that we charged are only at cost, it's not like we make a profit from the cemetery."
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