The Wabash County Coroner’s Office has been unable to pay bills since May due to an increase in autopsies, many of which were related to fatal drug overdoses.
Of the 33 autopsies conducted this year, twelve have been for overdose victims that the state now requires counties to track and report, County Coroner Suzie Lewis said on Monday.
Lewis met with the Wabash County Council that evening to request an extra $52,150 for unpaid bills and future expenses in 2017.
The past two years have seen almost twice as many autopsies conducted than usual, due in part to a new state law requiring autopsies be conducted when an overdose is suspected.
The Coroner’s Office conducted 65 autopsies in 2016 alone. Lewis said she is on track to reach a similar total with 33 already conducted in 2017.
Funding for the Coroner’s Office has been an issue since Lewis took office in January. The department had about $13,000 in unpaid autopsy bills from the previous year, which took a substantial hit from her $30,000 2017 budget. Lewis has conducted 33 additional autopsies since that time and has been unable to pay bills totaling $10,130 since May.
Lewis’ budget request was approved in full, the majority of which, or $50,000, will pay for autopsies and related expenses.
The County Council also heard from Wabash County Sheriff Bob Land regarding his inmate transfer budget, or the cost of housing inmates outside the county jail.
Land said that he is holding $94,000 in unpaid bills because of the way that his public safety budget is structured and the way reimbursement payments from the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) are received.
Payments from the DOC are deposited into the County General Fund, and require the Council’s permission to be transferred back to the sheriff’s budget.
He plans to request funding from the Council soon, possibly next month.
The DOC has reimbursed Wabash County $35 per inmate per day for inmates who would have served time in state facilities before changes to the State’s criminal code required they be held in county jails. Land said the $35 per diem rate is still too low and that he plans to lobby with other sheriffs for additional DOC funding.
A special committee with the Indiana General Assembly will hear this request while it reviews the impact of a sweeping sentencing reform bill that took effect in 2015. The bill allowed courts greater discretion in sentencing, but sheriffs often complain that their jail populations have swelled as a result.
The committee is expected to meet this summer and fall to prepare for the 2018 legislative session.