PHOENIX (AP) — Paupers graves for the indigent in Arizona are giving way to cremation in three counties, with others considering following suit.
Faced with budget cuts, a lack of space or both, Yavapai, Navajo, and Yuma counties have taken to cremating the indigent rather than burying them. A burial costs nearly three times the amount of cremation.
Maricopa and Pima counties continue to bury the indigent, but officials in Maricopa County say budget pressures may force them to reconsider that policy.
Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, spent nearly $2.3 million to bury 497 bodies at an average cost of more than $4,600 per body during the 2008-09 fiscal year. That costs includes required investigations to locate relatives of the deceased in hopes of sparing taxpayers from shouldering the costs of burial or cremation.
When relatives are found but refuse to pay, counties are responsible for disposing of the bodies. Counties can sue relatives who refuse to bury their dead, but rarely do so.
When relatives can’t be immediately located, Ramona Loza, coordinator of Maricopa County’s indigent-burial program, thinks it still makes sense to bury a pauper.
“It’s in our best interests to give them a complete body than ashes,” she said, adding that sometimes relatives learn of a loved one’s death years after burial.
Loza estimated that five to 10 bodies are disinterred a year at the county’s White Tanks Cemetery, the only paupers cemetery in Maricopa County.
Loza said she expects economic pressures eventually will force Maricopa County to reassess its approach.
That’s already the case in Yavapai County, which in January opted for a cremation-only policy to handle its indigent dead. Navajo and Yuma counties are cremating the indigent dead if no relative can be found.
All three rural counties handle far fewer paupers funerals than Maricopa, which handles about 700 a year.
Yavapai County had been encouraging cremation for years, but made it a requirement in January as space started running out at a Prescott cemetery, Public Fiduciary Shari Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson, a longtime advocate for cremations during her long career with Maricopa County’s Public Fiduciary Office, said no one criticized the new policy.
Pima County Public Fiduciary Anita Royal said she objects to cremation on religious grounds and has concerns about upset family members suing if they discover a long-lost relative was cremated without their permission.
“I’m not going to violate anyone’s religious beliefs,” Royal said. “If I can get a family to cremate over burial, I’m happy.”
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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