A controversial crematory in Snellville might have to shell out more than $250,000 for an air-pollution monitoring system if a city councilwoman’s ordinance gets approved.

Kelly Kautz’s ordinance would require bio-waste incinerators such as crematories and some hospitals to self-monitor mercury and dioxins by obtaining a Continuous Emissions Monitoring System or by hiring an engineering firm.

The city council is expected to vote on the measure Monday night.

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put the price tag of a CEMS at $100,000. And Karen Hays, a manager in the compliance program in the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said the cost could go up, depending on the pollutants being measured.

“[Measuring] continuous mercury emissions would be extremely expensive,” Hays said.

Paul Rahill — president of Matthews International Cremation Division, which designs and manufactures crematory equipment — said a fully installed CEMS could cost upward of $250,000.

“If they want to monitor smoke, that’s easy and less expensive,” Rahill said. But measuring mercury, he said, is much more costly.

Although the city won’t provide the equipment, Kautz said she’s open to other ways for incinerators to self-monitor pollutants. That includes buying equipment with the device pre-installed, leasing the device or hiring an engineer.

What about the cost of a CEMS? Kautz said that’s a matter of perspective, as incinerating equipment, including furnaces, “are hundreds of thousands of dollars to begin with.

“I don’t know what the cost would be,” she said. “We’re doing this for the health of our citizens and our environment. What kind of price tag could you put on that?”

Chris Nuzum, owner of Cremation Society of the South, said having to obtain such a device would send a clear message to his operation at U.S. 78 and Abington Drive.

“The city would like to make it cost prohibitive so we would have to close shop,” said Nuzum, who opened his business Sept. 2 despite protest from nearby homeowners to city officials.

And, Nuzum said, the six-figure cost of a monitoring device ultimately would trickle down to consumers.

“If the city feels it has the power to regulate emissions, it will have a ripple effect throughout the state … and make cremation too costly for the consumer,” Nuzum said. “If you look at the true data objectively rather than politically, a reasonable person would deduct that this regulation is not needed.”

But Kautz said she believes it’s time someone took a hard look at emissions and air-quality control, and not just at crematories.

“I truly believe this is the right thing to do.”