Finance Committee dead set on cutting coroner’s costs in Dougherty County

ALBANY — Dougherty County budget writers say there is a body of evidence warranting a cut in the county coroner’s budget after four consecutive years in which spending exceeded the amount earmarked for the office.

On Monday, Coroner Michael Fowler made his case to Dougherty County Commission members who are considering the county’s 2021-2022 spending plan. The budget must be approved prior to the start of the budget year on July 1.

Fowler also requested funding for a full-time deputy coroner during his presentation to commissioners. Currently, the office has several part-time coroners who are paid by the cases worked when they are called upon on occasions when Fowler is not available.

The coroner highlighted several line items in his budget recommended by the commission’s budget-writing Finance Committee that he said were insufficient.

Prior to his presentation, commissioners approved a budget amendment adding $24,475 to Fowler’s current budget for the year ending June 31 that included spending for compensation to deputy coroners, trips to the morgue to release bodies, transport service fees and vehicle maintenance. That additional money increased the original budget of $190,750 to $211,531.

During his presentation, Fowler said the $185,000 proposed budget for his office, which represents a 3 percent decrease from last year, recommended by the Finance Committee contained no funding for travel or books and that the funding for cleanup of the morgue and transportation are inadequate.

The recommended budget contains $10,000 for transporting bodies to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation laboratory in cases where autopsies are required, Fowler said. Bodies must be transported for all cases of suicide, homicide or suspected drug overdoses, he said, and over the past several years those cases have been well over the number that would be covered by $10,000.

Commissioner Ed Newsome, who chairs the Finance Committee, countered that the $550 transportation cost is excessive. He pointed to Lee County, where he said the cost was $150 per body. The committee checked with a number of coroner’s offices around the state and none had costs that high for transporting bodies.

“There’s your savings,” he said. “That’s taking your transportation costs back to where they should be.”

Commissioner Russell Gray, also a Finance Committee member along with Commissioner Clinton Johnson, said that department heads have the discretion to shift money to areas where more funds are needed.

During an interview after the meeting, Fowler said the service used has been transporting bodies for his office for a number of years and provided reliable service.

“I need to have somebody I can depend on; they’re not going to mess with the body bag,” he said. “You need to have somebody to take the body up there, not open the body bag and bring the body back.”

Costs for supplies also can fluctuate, said Fowler, who added that his office is not spending money extravagantly.

“I don’t know how much it’s going to cost for body bags, for the blood tests,” he said “I’m not buying new shoes, I’m not buying a suit. Every penny I’m using for the coroner’s office.”

The insurance cost for the one full-time employee in the office also is increasing next year from $7,000 to $20,620, he said, and that funding was not increased.

“That’s $20,620 coming out of my operational budget,” Fowler said.

The coroner said that his office worked diligently during the COVID-19 pandemic to document the deaths of residents in the county from the disease, taking blood for analysis from each patient, which is something that was done by few coroners in the state.

“As Gov. (Brian) Kemp said, I was the hardest-working coroner in the state of Georgia,” Fowler said. “I put my life on the line. I went in those houses with gear on, hoping I didn’t catch it.”

Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said he had no doubts about Fowler’s dedication or hard work, but that in previous years some of the spending was not in line with county policy.

“I’m satisfied with (the) explanation of the Finance Committee and how they arrived at those figures,” he said.

If spending exceeds the budgeted amount, the commission can assess that later in the budget year, Cohilas said.

During his pitch for a deputy coroner, Fowler told commissioners that comparable cities have more employees.

Augusta-Richmond County, for example, which handles about double the 500 cases handled in Dougherty County, has four full-time and two part-time coroners, he said.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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