The Winter Garden City Commission voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance 25-35, revising definitions, residency requirements and ownership rights in the Winter Garden Cemetery code, and approved Resolution 25-11 to adopt related fees and charges.

City staff said the changes clarify who may purchase lots and niches and allow the city manager to adjust pass-through fees for outsourced work. Staff also distributed a corrected Exhibit A to Resolution 25-11 at the meeting, noting a typographical error: the fee listed under "maximum 12 cremation spaces" was corrected from $2,000 to $1,000 for each additional space.

Staff recommended new price points after comparing surrounding cemeteries, saying public cemetery plots in the Orlando area typically run from about $2,500 to $5,000 and private locations are more expensive. Under the new schedule presented at the meeting, a ground burial space would be priced up to $3,000 and a niche up to $2,000. Staff also described an option to consolidate multiple interments at a single location: a headstone configured for six niches plus in-ground interments could allow up to 12 burials at a single location under the proposed structure, with illustrative total-cost examples shown in staff materials.

Staff presented several spreadsheet scenarios showing combined service charges. As an example staff gave, a purchase at the higher end (a niche plus cemetery services including opening and closing, set-up and other services) could total about $3,940; a lowest-end niche plus minimal services example was shown at about $2,630. Staff emphasized that mortuary or funeral-home charges were not included in those figures.

The commission took the ordinance on second reading, opened and closed the public hearing with no public speakers, and approved the ordinance and resolution by voice vote. No roll-call tally with individual member votes was recorded on the transcript; the meeting record indicates the motions carried unanimously.

The ordinance amends chapter 26, article II of the City of Winter Garden Code of Ordinances. The resolution removes cemetery fees from the code and establishes the new fee schedule as presented; staff noted the change also allows the city manager discretion to adjust pass-through fees as vendor prices change. The effective date for the ordinance and the resolution was not specified in the transcript.

The commission’s action follows staff warnings about limited remaining space at the Winter Garden Cemetery and increasing costs of expansion and maintenance.