'It's not like you choose to have a funeral': levy puts another cost on dying

The updated NSW Cemeteries and Crematoria levy is set to start from Monday, July 1, with costs of $41 per cremation, $63 per ash interment and $156 per burial likely to be put on consumers.

Australian Funeral Directors Association NSW/ACT divisional president Asha Dooley said the association did not support the move.

Lester and Son Funeral & Cremation Services in Albury-Wodonga is part of the association.

"It becomes a user pay system, we just feel like the consumer ends up wearing everything," Ms Dooley said.

"It's not like you choose to have a funeral, it's not like picking up a television.

"It's not something that is an optional thing, when you need to have a funeral, you need to have a funeral, and you have to be buried or cremated, typically."

She said it needed to be made clear it was not a cost set by the funeral director.

"It might be ultimately that you are paying it through your funeral director, but it is not a funeral director cost, it is the cost of the regulator," she said.

She said operators would be forced to pass the levy on to the consumer, as it was too expensive not to.

Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW detail the levy as "a relatively small cost for making sure everyone's loved ones are looked after".

Ms Dooley said percentage-wise, the 1.6 per cent cost of a $10,000 burial might not seem huge, but with cost of living concerns, it was another charge for the consumer to worry about.

"However, if you've got a burial that is already costing several thousand dollars, adding an extra $156 to it is just an additional cost," she said.

"Whether it's a small cost or not, it's still an additional cost, which I know that the regulator is saying that will go to helping families ensure that the maintenance of the grave is there.

"But at the same time, it's really challenging when the costs are so high, all little costs add up."

Ms Dooley, who is also the general manager of Grace Funerals in Emu Plains, Penrith, Springwood, the Blue Mountains and Neutral Bay, is also worried about what the cost means as a small business owner.

"We will directly pass it on, but it'll get worn in ways such as we won't be able to increase our other costs, and we'll just be wearing extra costs of living ourselves as smaller business owners," she said.

"The big businesses will always pass it on, but the small ones will look at competition, look at the area, look at the families, and decide that we have to not increase our prices in line with cost of living and CPI and where there's additional costs."

The new costs have been seen as a "death tax" by the NSW opposition.

The existing levy has been in place since 2014 and has been deemed insufficient by Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW, and is resulting in inequity across the sector.

Albury Council service leader community and place Simona Coad said the move was important to support the regulator.

"It's important to understand that this levy has been active for a decade, but the regulator, Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW, has now applied it to all cemetery operators in the industry equally, which includes local government," she said.

"It is designed to create a level playing field for all licensed cemetery operators and, ultimately, a benefit for customers through greater awareness of options, clear contract conditions and grounds maintenance standards.

"While we see the levy as a necessary measure to help enable Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW to continue its regulatory function, we also understand that it will be an added cost for families at a time when managing expenses is at the forefront of the public's mind.

"Cemetery operators such as AlburyCity will be collecting the levy on behalf of the regulator and will forward collected amounts.

"The regulator does important work in upholding standards in the interment industry, and it does require adequate and sustainable funding."