A Galățian, angry with the Cemeteries Administration. CHARGES
As if the suffering of losing his mother was not enough, a man from Galați found himself held at the door of the “Ștefan cel Mare” Cemetery in Galați. The man has been granted two permanent places there. When he arrived at the office where he had to prepare the documents for his mother’s burial, the man was conditioned to pay the fee for the maintenance of the cemetery several years ago, otherwise he faced the refusal of the cemetery employees to bury the deceased. Although he was sure that previous years’ taxes had been paid, the man asked the cashier to check the records and was willing to pay the difference. The stupor was all the greater as the man found out that there was no money in the cemetery records that had been paid before the mother’s death.
I told them that debts older than three years are statute-barred
“I tried to explain to them that on that permanent place that I own, I did a work five years ago, which also involves paying the daily maintenance fee. Without this receipt you cannot get the construction permit. Even this did not convince him. Furthermore, they checked the file in their records, found that there was work done, but they did not have the receipt attached. I then tried to explain to them that a debt older than three years is time-barred and I offered to pay the difference. They told me that nothing is prescribed with them and if I want them to prepare my place forever, I either pay by the day or not”, he told us. So the man had to look through his records and came back with two receipts proving that he had paid in 2016 as well, so he paid the difference and was able to get what he needed to bury his mother.
“I’m trying to calm down after my mother’s death, then I’ll look for the receipts to prove that I paid the same tax twice. The problem is that it is hard work, time wasted, and if I prove that it was paid twice, I don’t know how I will regain possession of the money paid twice. Besides, I keep wondering what I would have done if I couldn’t pay that much money, because without a clear record, I was required to pay the tax from the time the cemetery was established, even though the deed I have is much more recently. How would I have managed to bury my mother?”, says the Galățian.
Gospădărire Urbană says that the database from “Ştefan cel Mare” is digitized
The man is not against paying the tributes he owes, regardless of the institution, but he finds it hilarious and unfair that an official of a city cemetery takes advantage of the moment when the citizen loses a loved one and, without having a clear record of the money they collect from the concessionaires, to compel payment against the burial documents. “I told them that I would leave my mother’s coffin at the gate until the situation is clarified, if I am not allowed to bury her. They replied that even this will not change the situation and that, whatever I do, I have to pay”, he said.
To clarify things, we requested the opinion of the director of the Galați Urban Economy Society, Dragoș Magearu, who told us that at the “Ștefan cel Mare Cemetery, the entire database is digitized, and there is a clear record of those who pay. Under these conditions, if the concessionaire no longer has proof of payment with us, find a safe record. In a short time we will implement the same system for another cemetery in the city, so that we have a clear record”. He also added that he wants the payment of taxes to be done online in the future, so that things will be simplified and the queues at the cashiers will be eliminated.
