POST FALLS - Post Falls plans to expand Evergreen Cemetery and the city council has directed staff to operate it as self-sufficient without using any general fund tax dollars.

That means higher cemetery fees will be proposed at a meeting likely in January, during a public hearing.

"The council has indicated that it does not want any taxes or general fund dollars to supplement the cemetery," said Dave Fair, Post Falls parks and recreation director.

Years ago, Fair said, as much as 90 percent of the cemetery budget was supported by the general fund. Today, the percentage is about 25 percent.

Fair said this is the first time since he was hired at the city in 1994 that a council has directed staff to operate the cemetery as being totally self-sufficient.

"We do operate it in a businesslike fashion and are selling lots, headstones and services," he said.

The idea of the city selling the cemetery to a private business was even raised at a recent workshop, but that thought has been scrapped.

"There was a big concern and people said, 'Don't sell the cemetery,'" said Councilman Skip Hissong. "I can agree with that."

The city now plans to expand the cemetery in three phases on 6.5 acres to the south of the existing site between the current office/shop and the water tower near the intersection of Poleline Avenue and Spokane Street.

It estimated that the current site will be full in three and a half years. The cemetery is selling an average of 90 lots/niches per year.

A portion of the office/shop will be moved next to the water tower and part of it will be demolished. The total estimated cost of that project, including demolition and relocating utilities, is $147,000.

"It will take us three to five years to develop a section (of the expansion), depending upon design," Fair said. "The sales (of lots/niches) will ultimately dictate the expansion timeline."

The city already owns the property to which the cemetery will expand. A decorative garden area with a donated fountain is in the expansion plans. The cost of the expansion is estimated to be $340,000 spread across the first three years and between $1.5 million and $2 million over the life of the project.

Expansion design details will be returned to the council for approval through the budget process.

Cemetery fees are proposed to increase - but by how much is still being determined by staff.

The current burial lot fees range from $800 to $1,200. Fair had proposed at this week's council meeting that they increase by $300 per year for the next two years, but the amounts will be adjusted after the council's input.

A lot fee at Evergreen was $300 in 1993 and $550 in 2004.

Current niche fees range from $650 to $750 and those were also proposed to increase by $300 for each of the next two years.

Councilman Alan Wolfe suggested, considering the trend of more families using niches rather than lots to cut costs, that the niche fee proposals should be lowered and the lot fee proposals raised from Fair's proposal for the public hearing to help drive the market in the direction of niches.

More usage of niches, since they don't take up as much room as lots, would also extend the life of the cemetery, he said.

The fee proposals presented this week would put Post Falls higher than Rathdrum and Coeur d'Alene cemeteries, but comparable with the lower end of Spokane cemeteries. Fair said the increases would bring in an additional $62,000 in revenue to the city by the second year.

With hefty cemetery fee hikes to be proposed, Fair said, the city expects to see an increase in lot/niche sales before possible increases are implemented.

"We've seen a run on cemetery lots in the past (before hikes go into effect)," he said.

Fair said lowering the standard of care at the cemetery to cut costs has not been an option.

"Staff concurs that public reaction would be very negative if that reduction were to be made," Fair wrote in an memo to the council.

To increase revenue, the city now sells liners and headstones and charges for services that were once free, including setting headstones and markers.