Municipal cemeteries and other burial tasks

Based on Article 33 on the Burials and Cremation Act, every municipality must have at least one municipal cemetery. The provincial executive (Gedeputeerde Staten) may grant an exemption when a church cemetery also buries people not affiliated with the church, or when a foundation or church is in charge of a public cemetery, or when the obligation is met in cooperation with a nearby municipality.

The obligation mainly imposes the costs of managing and maintaining the municipal or church burial grounds. The other costs are those of burying someone when none of the remaining family members provides for the burial, and the registration of death.

The revenues consist mainly from the levies on the disposal of the dead. These are municipal levies for the use of the municipal cemetery or crematorium and the services rendered by the municipality pertaining to them. The other revenues come from e.g. rent and lease charges.