Luzerne County’s administration moved $200,000 from the sheriff’s department budget to cover overruns in the coroner’s office, according to a budget transfer publicly posted in recent days.
Shortly before resigning earlier this month, prior county coroner Francis Hacken had presented folders of statistics supporting his continued argument that more staffing and funding are needed in the office.
The newly posted budget transfer cites several reasons funds must be moved now:
• Allocations for forensic exams and toxicology were not sufficiently funded in the county’s 2022 budget.
• Due to short staffing and caseloads, per diem deputies were put on call more frequently than in prior years — a practice that will continue through the rest of this year. These deputies are primarily funeral directors willing to handle death calls in their areas for a flat $100 and another $75 to $125 to transport the deceased to the county morgue.
• The office field investigator accumulated numerous compensatory hours in 2021 and this year to date that could not be honored and must be paid as overtime, which will exceed the office’s budgeted overtime allotment.
County Manager Randy Robertson included a handwritten note at the bottom of the budget transfer.
“While I understand and concur with the transfer as the only known way to alleviate this shortfall, we cannot allow our OT issues to run unchecked” into the future, he said.
The sheriff’s office is able to provide $200,000 to cover the transfer because it has been unable to fill some vacant positions, the document said.
Budget specifics
Overall, council had approved a $662,419 budget for the coroner’s office this year. Spending totaled approximately $495,000 through the end of August, or 75%, according to a budget update report released last week.
During budget discussions last fall, Hacken had publicly pushed council to provide funding for two additional field investigators at $32,000 each plus benefits. Then-acting county manager Romilda Crocamo told council she had eliminated his additional staffing request from her proposed budget as part of her decision to avoid seeking a tax hike that a council majority appeared to be unwilling to pass.
With no action by council, Hacken again unsuccessfully made the plea for two more investigators in December.
He repeated many of the same concerns before announcing his departure, saying he and his chief deputy and field investigator routinely work more than 50 hours per week without additional compensation or ability to use compensatory time. They often must respond alone in the field and are tasked with moving the deceased without assistance, he had said.
The new budget transfer adds $29,000 to the overtime line, making $32,000 available to pay out money owed.
On-call wages were replenished with a $13,000 transfer. The $5,000 on-call budget allotment had been used up at the end of August.
In the highest transfer, $118,000 went to the forensic examinations budget line, which already is overspent. Council had allocated $200,000 for the examinations, and spending totaled $215,240 through August, the report said.
Before the budget adoption last December, the budget/finance department had asked council to consider increasing the forensic budget from $200,000 to $280,000 based on past expenses.
Prior councilwoman Linda McClosky Houck had made a motion to provide that request, but there was no second, meeting minutes show. Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott made a motion to earmark $240,000, and former councilman Robert Schnee immediately proposed $225,000. Council ended up unanimously rejecting $240,000, and the motion for $225,000 was withdrawn.
For toxicology, the new budget transfer adds $40,000. Council had budgeted $90,000, and spending was at 70% through August, the report said.
Chief deputy coroner Joseph Jacobs has been serving as acting coroner since Hacken’s resignation, and the administration is reviewing applicants for the coroner position.
2023 budget
Future plans for the office budget remain to be seen.
Robertson must submit a proposed 2023 budget to county council at its Oct. 11 meeting, and members of the administration have been meeting with small groups of council members to discuss staffing challenges and other fiscal issues as the submission deadline nears.
The manager has said “hard decisions” must be made. He declined to forecast whether a real estate tax increase will be requested but said the county is facing insufficient staffing in multiple departments, inflation and public demands to repair and step up maintenance of roads and bridges.
County taxes were 5.9754 mills from 2017 through 2019 and increased to 6.1696 mills in 2020, remaining at that level in 2021 and this year, records show.
A mill is $1 tax for every $1,000 in assessed value, meaning the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 must pay $616.96 in county real estate taxes annually. The last 3.25% increase in 2020 equated to $19 more annually on a $100,000 property.