Westview Cemetery prices set to increase
Ordinance 1787 passed through the Blacksburg Council earlier this month, confirming a price increase in the lots and grave openings in the Westview Cemetery of Blacksburg.
BLACKSBURG, Va., April 27 - Westview Cemetery: Some of the historic grave sites at the Blacksburg public cemetery. Photo courtesy of Isobel Cootes.
On April 13th increases to the Westview Cemetery's rates on lots and grave openings came into effect in the local Blacksburg area. The Cemetery Trustee Advisory Committee of Blacksburg, which consists of two council members and four lot owners at Westview, revisited the idea earlier this year after the last increases occurred in 2010.
The latest increases came in an effort to bring Westview into line with the rates of other public cemeteries in the area. The majority of the increases include a 25 per cent hike in prices for pure cost, as town taxes and the committees' trust funds the maintenance and grounds keeper wages to ensure the continuance of the historic cemetery.
With Virginia labelled as the historic state of the nation, the town of Blacksburg is no exception as the non-for-profit cemetery holds historic Doctor Harvey Black, who assisted in amputating Stonewall Jackson's arm, Captain Thomas Nelson Conrad, a Confederate spymaster, and John McBryde of Gen J.E.B Stuart's command. Each of who played a significant role in the Civil War and the town.
Blacksburg Mayor and VT History Alumni, Ron Rordam, confirmed he has plans to be buried in Westview himself. He also confirmed that although he is on the Cemetery Committee, he himself missed the deadline for the rate increases and now has to pay the increased prices, "I wanted to do it before the rates went up but I just didn't have time so, I have to pay the extra. I almost did it that day, but I missed it."
As taxes are the main source for funding the cemeteries continuance and maintenance, citizens who do not reside in the council area of Blacksburg and therefore do not contribute taxes, can expect to pay double the price for their spot in the public cemetery.
Virginia Tech students, who often reside in Blacksburg for approximately four years of study, are considered local residents after they begin to pay taxes once moving off of campus. As Mayor Rordam confirmed, on campus housing does not contribute taxes to the local town of Blacksburg.
VT Freshman and Criminology major, Emily Marcy, explained that although she considers Blacksburg her second home she wouldn't want to be buried here, "I love Tech, but I would rather be buried with my family or close to my home of Richmond".
The Ordinance 1787 that proposed the increases had been discussed several times earlier this year in council meetings before being granted and fully adopted by the council on April 12th. No public comments were recorded.
