JAY — A proposed update to the town’s cemetery policy would increase fees for lots and grave-opening charges.

“Our policy has not been amended in quite a while,” Town Manager Ruth Marden told selectmen Monday.

The town is way behind on the fees it charges compared to other towns and needs to update the basic rules, she said.

The new policy proposes that no burials take place after first frost or snowstorm or Nov. 15, whichever comes first. It is in line with other towns, she said.

Several towns were called to find out what they charge for services.

She found that none charged less than Jay, which does not truly reflect the cost of the service, Marden said.

She said the new prices developed were not the lowest and not the highest but were in between.

Prices proposed for lots in town-owned cemeteries would increase from $50 to $125 per grave for residents and from $100 to $200 for nonresidents.

Grave-opening charges will remain the same at $275 for those done Monday through Friday but increase to $350 if done on Saturday, Sunday or holidays.

Grave openings for a child/infant will increase from $125 to $200 for those done Monday through Friday and to $300 for those done on weekends and holidays.

Cremation opening charges will go from $100 to $150 on Monday through Friday and to $200 on weekends and holidays.

Selectmen asked Marden to make some minor tweaks to the policy and to bring it back for a vote.

In other business, selectmen voted unanimously to have the Franklin County government stop funding social service agencies and to have those agencies come to the town to seek funding.

The county funds several agencies that serve the county.

It is the second year the county has sent out a survey asking towns whether they wanted the county to continue handling the funding of agencies at that level or if towns want to do it.

Jay selectmen voted the same way last year but the majority of the towns sending back the survey wanted the county to continue with funding.

Prior to Monday’s vote, select board Chairman Steve McCourt said Rangeley selectmen did not take a vote on the survey after reading a letter from Rangeley Town Manager Perry Ellsworth.

Selectman Steve Barker, who also sits on the Franklin County Budget Committee, said he would rather have the agencies come to the town. Unfortunately, he said, a lot of the smaller towns would not be able to afford the funding of those agencies.

The cost for the social agency services at the county level is $287,000 and Jay pays 22.3 percent of that, McCourt said.

Jay picks up the highest share of the county budget, which is based on town valuation, he said. Other top payers out of the 21 towns are Rangeley, 14.1 percent, Carrabassett Valley, 13.6 percent, and Farmington, 10.8 percent, according to Marden.

Selectman Amy Pineau Gould said she agreed that the funding be done at the town level.

“Then we could keep track of funding,” she said.

[email protected]