Lake Wales (Current through Ordinance 2023-17, Adopted 7-05-2023)
 Code of Ordinances
 Chapter 2. Administration   
 Article VI. Cemetery Administration
 Division 2. Burial Spaces
  

  Division 2. Burial Spaces  

§ 2-616. Sale of interment rights in burial spaces.
Effective on Tuesday, August 4, 2015

(a) Price. The city commission, by adopted Resolution, shall set cemetery fees to fund all, or any portion of the cost, of provision of perpetual care for the municipal cemeteries. Cemetery fees, established by the city commission, shall be automatically adjusted beginning on October 1, 2016 to reflect an increase based on June's annual CPI or two and one-half percent (2.5%), whichever is greater, without further need for commission action.

(b) Acquired rights. No interment rights shall be acquired by the purchaser until the cost of the burial space is fully paid and a deed of conveyance is issued to the purchaser.

(c) Payment by installment agreement. Payment for burial spaces may be made by installment agreement after a minimum down payment of twenty (20) percent and a five (5) percent administrative fee provided that the period of the installment agreement does not exceed twelve (12) months for each space and provided that installment payments shall be due and payable on the twentieth day of the month. If an installment payment remains unpaid for thirty (30) days after the date due, the installment agreement shall be cancelled and the city shall require full payment of the unpaid principal balance and shall so notify the purchaser. Notice by ordinary mail, sent to the purchaser at the last address on file with the city, shall be considered sufficient and proper legal notification. If the balance due remains unpaid for thirty (30) days after such notification, the purchaser shall forfeit his right to the burial space or spaces, and the city shall have the right to offer the space or spaces to the general public for resale. The cemetery administrator shall request that the finance department refund to the purchaser all installment payments paid to the city less one hundred dollars ($100) which shall be retained by the city as an administrative fee.

(d) Reservation of space. A burial space shall not be reserved or held unless a non-refundable deposit of one hundred dollars ($100) has been paid to the city, and no burial space shall be reserved or held for more than thirty (30) days.

(e) Payment prior to interment. No interment shall occur unless the cost of the burial space and other applicable fees have been paid in full except as provided in paragraph (g). All fees shall be paid by 4:00 p.m. on the business day preceding the interment with the following exceptions:

(1) When a request is made after 4:00 p.m. on Friday for interment on Saturday for reasons provided in subsection 2-628(b), the cemetery manager is authorized to accept a check or money order which shall be deposited with the paperwork documenting the transaction in the locked drop-box at city hall for processing by the cashier on the next business day.

(2) When a request is made after 4:00 p.m. on Friday for interment on Monday, all applicable fees may be paid as in paragraph (1) above or on Monday provided that all fees are paid no later than two (2) hours before the interment takes place.

(f) Payment prior to placement of markers. When a burial space has been purchased in advance of need and payment is made by installment agreement, no grave marker or grave decoration shall be placed on the burial space until the cost of the burial space has been paid in full.

(g) Assignment of life insurance proceeds. In cases of extreme financial hardship, the city manager or his designee may authorize the acceptance, in lieu of cash for the purchase of burial space, an assignment of the proceeds of a valid life insurance policy. Before the assignment will be accepted, it must be verified and attested to as valid by the funeral home. In the event that the life insurance policy is invalid or insufficient to cover the cost of the burial space and has been accepted by the city upon the verification and attestation of the funeral home, all costs incurred by the city will be the responsibility of the funeral home. In the event that insurance proceeds are not remitted to the city within six (6) months after the date of the burial, all costs incurred by the city will be the responsibility of the funeral home and the city shall be authorized to take whatever action is necessary to obtain payment for such costs.

(h) Address of lot owner. It shall be the duty of the lot owner to keep the city informed as to his current correct mailing address and the current address of his legal representative if notices are to be sent to that representative. Notices or other correspondence mailed to the address on file with the city for the lot owner or his representative shall constitute actual delivery and notification. It shall be the duty of the lot owner to keep informed of any changes in the rules, regulations or laws governing the operation of the cemeteries.

 

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09; Ord. No. 2011-08, § 1, 4-19-11; Ord. No. 2015-05, § 1, 08-04-15)
§ 2-617. Deeds of conveyance.
Latest version.

(a) The mayor-commissioner and the city clerk are hereby authorized to execute deeds of conveyance on behalf of the city to the purchasers of interment rights in burial spaces within the cemetery, which conveyances shall be valid for all purposes as the act and deed of the city when the city clerk affixes the seal of the city.

(b) No deed of conveyance shall be executed before the cost of the burial space has been paid in full by the purchaser.

(c) All deeds of conveyance shall bear a description of the burial space in accordance with the cemetery plats approved by the city commission, the name and address of the purchaser, and the official book and page number in which the conveyance is recorded in the official records of the city.

(d) All deeds of conveyance are hereby declared to incorporate and shall be subject to all rules, regulations and conditions set forth in this article, and subject, further to such other additional rules and regulations, amendments or alterations as shall be adopted by the city from time to time. The reference to such rules and regulations in deeds conveying the right of interment shall have the same force and effect as if the same were set forth in full therein.

(e) The deed conveying interment rights to purchasers and the rules and regulations of the city now in force or which may hereafter be adopted, including modifications or amendments thereof, shall be the sole agreement between the city and the purchaser. The statement of any sales agent or employee of the city, unless confirmed in writing by the city manager, shall in no way bind the city.

(f) A certified copy of the executed deed conveying interment rights shall be filed with the city clerk who shall permanently maintain said copy in the official records of the city.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§ 2-618. Lot markers.
Latest version.

All ground burial lots shall be marked by the cemetery manager at the time of sale with a permanent metal marker which shall be embossed with the sales contract number and the date of sale. Lot markers shall be permanently mounted at the northwest corner of the burial lot.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§ 2-619. No easement granted.
Latest version.

The conveyance of interment rights in a burial space shall not grant an easement or right of interment to any owner in any road, drive, alley or walk within the cemetery, but such road, drive, alley or walk may be used as a means of access to the cemetery or cemetery buildings.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§ 2-620. Sale, transfer, assignment or re-subdivision.
Latest version.

(a) No interment rights in a burial space shall be sold, transferred, assigned or conveyed in any manner by the owner or his heirs without the written authorization of the city and the payment of a fifty-dollar transfer fee.

(b) The re-subdivision of any burial space in any manner is prohibited.

(c) The city is authorized to repurchase an unused burial space for the same price at which it was originally sold. No transfer fee will be required.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§ 2-621. Family burial lot.
Latest version.

(a) Whenever an interment is made in a lot for which the interment rights have been conveyed to an individual owner by the city and is held as a separate lot, it shall be indivisible, and, at the option of the city, the whole of such burial lot thereby becomes inalienable and shall be held as the family burial lot of the owner in which one (1) grave may be used for the owner's interment and one (1) for the interment of the surviving spouse, if any, of the owner.

(b) In the event there has been no written order by the owner filed with the city designating those whom he authorizes to be interred therein, the parents or children of such deceased owner may be interred in such lot in the order of need without the consent of any person claiming any interest therein.

(c) In the event there shall be no parent or child surviving such deceased person, the right of interment therein shall go the next heirs at law of such deceased owner as specified by the statutes of descent of the state.

(d) Any surviving spouse and any parent, child or heir of a deceased owner may waive his right to interment in such lot in favor of any other relative of such deceased owner or of his spouse, and upon such waiver, the remains of the person in whose favor the waiver is made may be interred therein.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§ 2-622. Use of burial space.
Latest version.

No burial space shall be used for any purpose except the interment of human remains.

(Ord. No. 2009-32, § 1, 12-15-09)
§§ 2-623-2-625. Reserved.