Municipal vote SO Olten SO has crematorium renovated for 6.4 million francs

The voters of Olten SO have clearly approved the renovation of the crematorium for 6.4 million francs. After earlier proposals had failed, the city council and municipal parliament had proposed a compromise.

The voters approved the credit proposal with almost 70.1 percent of votes in favor (yes: 3,275 votes, no: 1,343 votes). The turnout was 43.5 percent, as reported by the Olten City Chancellery on Sunday.

Costs of CHF 6,443,800 have been budgeted for the "replacement of the furnace line and partial repair of the building structure" at the Meisenhard municipal cemetery. The construction work is due to start next March. If everything goes according to plan, the renovated crematorium will go into operation with an electrically powered oven at the beginning of 2026.

The plan is to partially amortize the investments with higher tariffs. This is possible if the population of Olten and Starrkirch-Wil no longer receive any concessions and the tariffs are raised to the level of the surrounding crematoriums, it was said.

In March, the voters of Olten narrowly rejected both a comprehensive refurbishment for 8.9 million francs and a refurbishment without replacing the furnace for 4.9 million francs. The city council and municipal parliament had already decided to shut down the plant in 2020. However, the voters rejected this in a referendum.

SDA