About

The Coachella Valley Public Cemetery District was formed August 8, 1927, under Section 8890 of the California Health and Safety Code. District boundaries enclose approximately 3,444 square miles. The district since that time has performed over 21,000 interments/burials, and has set over 15,000 headstones/grave markers. The Coachella Valley Cemetery is one of over 265 public cemetery districts in California which are supported, in part, by property taxes and one of many types of special districts in California.

The cemetery estimates that the facility will meet the need of the public for at least fifty years. The total district property consists of sixty acres, twenty-nine of the sixty have been developed for interment purposes.

A small portion of the property tax revenue that is collected from tax payers within the district is part of the revenue the cemetery relies on for the annual budget. Individuals who do not reside in the district do not pay property taxes in the district are required by law to pay a surcharge to the district for interment in the cemetery.

Cemetery Districts are not actually a department of any City or County government. Although Counties, for a fee do collect property taxes and deposit them to district accounts.

Cemetery Districts are governed by a Board of Directors consisting of three to five Trustees. Trustees are usually appointed for at least one four-year term. Laws for the operation of public cemeteries are contained in the California Health and Safety Code. Private cemeteries such as Forest Lawn and Rose Hills come under the jurisdiction of the State Cemetery Board. The Board of Trustees meet once a month for regular business meetings. Laws and rules for these meetings and others are contained in the Brown Act.

Records for all interments are available in the Administration Office during business hours.