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Coroner requests less for 2010 budget |
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Thursday, 12 November 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
The Auglaize County coroner is not asking for any additional funding from the county in 2010.
For the second consecutive year, Dr. Thomas Freytag is requesting $72,529, a difference of about $80 subtracted from the requested contract services budget this year.
His salary is to stay at $28,112, with employees set to make the same at $4,585.
Contract services, which pays for autopsy fees, are set at $25,100, approximately $80 less than in 2009.
“We don’t know where those fees are going to be yet,” said Gwynne Freytag, who serves as secretary for the county Coroner’s Office and presented the budget to the commissioners. “Last year they held because they knew everyone was having financial problems. We’re hopeful they don’t go up again or not too much if they do.”
Autopsies cost approximately $1,200 currently, whether they are done in Dayton, Columbus or Toledo.
Freytag said often they have them performed in Toledo, but it depends in part on what is closer to the funeral home the family has chosen.
Forty-six cases have been reported to the coroner so far in 2009.
Freytag said this time of year those numbers typically tend to spike.
Of the 46 cases, 20 were accepted as coroner cases and 10 autopsies performed.
Thirty-four of the deaths were of natural causes, nine were accidental and three were suicides, Freytag said.
“We’ve seen a rise in motorcycle accidents this year,” Freytag said. “We think maybe more people are riding them to save money on gas.”
Supplies are $500, contract repairs $300, travel $5,200, other expenses $3,500, and workers compensation and PERS (the public employee retirement system) at $654 and $4,578 respectively.
“It looks like our needs for 2010 can be done with a little bit less than last year, hopefully, — unless we have some big catastrophe. You never can predict those,” Freytag said.
She said they’ve been fortunate and not needed to pay for any repairs. Freytag said that’s a line item that the office has used maybe once in more than 20 years.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 November 2009 )
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