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GIRARD —
GIRARD — Death and taxes are unavoidable, and Crawford County Commissioners had to deal with both during their Friday work session and regular meeting.
A final draft of the 2013 budget was approved for publication Sunday in the Pittsburg Morning Sun, and commissioners also tackled the subject of indigent deaths.
The 2013 budget has been stripped to the bone.
“Every department, for the most part, is operating at the 2012 budget level, but some departments have been cut from what they received in 2012,” said commissioner Linda Grilz. “Every department is doing more with less. The county has absorbed an awful lot of what the state failed to fund.”
There has been a slight increase of the county’s mill levy.
“A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value,” said county clerk Don Pyle. “We were collecting $49.12, and that will increase to $49.85. Another way to explain it is that the taxes on a $100,000 house will go up $8.42.”
These figures are not quite carved in stone. A public hearing on the 2012 budget was scheduled at 10 a.m. Aug. 24. Pyle said that, potentially, the budget could be lowered, but cannot go higher.
Joe Naylor of Bath-Naylor Funeral Home and Dr. Adam Paoni, county coroner, sat in for the discussion of indigent deaths, in which the deceased and/or family lack resources for funeral expenses.“The state used to give $1,150 for this, then dropped it to $550, then dumped it onto you,” Naylor said to commissioners. “I’m guessing no money came along.”
He said that he could provide cremation services for indigents at a cost of $550 .
“Since I have a crematorium, $550 will cover my cost,” Naylor said.
He added that it’s a matter of how a person is qualified as being indigent.
“With the state, it was if they were receiving state aid,” Naylor said.
“How we find out if someone is on assistance?” asked Jim Emerson, county counselor. “It’s not a problem to pay for the ones we should pay for, it’s just finding out who qualifies.”
The problem of indigent deaths may be increasing, and not all of the deceased are elderly.
“The ones I’ve been seeing have been younger, 30 or 40 years old,” Paoni said.
The coroner and Naylor remained as the regular commission started to hear the opening of bids for transportation services of dead bodies for the coroner. This would be for a five-year contract, with the county able to opt out under certain circumstances.
Bids were received from Bath-Naylor for $550; First Call of Kansas, $165 per trip; and Derfelt Funeral Home, $300 for the first year, with a $25 increase each of the subsequent years.
Decision on the bids was put off for another session.“I think we need to do some research,” said commissioner Bob Kmiec.
Commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. Monday for canvassing of the vote from the Aug. 7 primary election, followed by a commission meeting. There will be no commission meeting on Tuesday.
GIRARD — Death and taxes are unavoidable, and Crawford County Commissioners had to deal with both during their Friday work session and regular meeting.
A final draft of the 2013 budget was approved for publication Sunday in the Pittsburg Morning Sun, and commissioners also tackled the subject of indigent deaths.
The 2013 budget has been stripped to the bone.
“Every department, for the most part, is operating at the 2012 budget level, but some departments have been cut from what they received in 2012,” said commissioner Linda Grilz. “Every department is doing more with less. The county has absorbed an awful lot of what the state failed to fund.”
There has been a slight increase of the county’s mill levy.
“A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value,” said county clerk Don Pyle. “We were collecting $49.12, and that will increase to $49.85. Another way to explain it is that the taxes on a $100,000 house will go up $8.42.”
These figures are not quite carved in stone. A public hearing on the 2012 budget was scheduled at 10 a.m. Aug. 24. Pyle said that, potentially, the budget could be lowered, but cannot go higher.
Joe Naylor of Bath-Naylor Funeral Home and Dr. Adam Paoni, county coroner, sat in for the discussion of indigent deaths, in which the deceased and/or family lack resources for funeral expenses.“The state used to give $1,150 for this, then dropped it to $550, then dumped it onto you,” Naylor said to commissioners. “I’m guessing no money came along.”
He said that he could provide cremation services for indigents at a cost of $550 .
“Since I have a crematorium, $550 will cover my cost,” Naylor said.
He added that it’s a matter of how a person is qualified as being indigent.
“With the state, it was if they were receiving state aid,” Naylor said.
“How we find out if someone is on assistance?” asked Jim Emerson, county counselor. “It’s not a problem to pay for the ones we should pay for, it’s just finding out who qualifies.”
The problem of indigent deaths may be increasing, and not all of the deceased are elderly.
“The ones I’ve been seeing have been younger, 30 or 40 years old,” Paoni said.
The coroner and Naylor remained as the regular commission started to hear the opening of bids for transportation services of dead bodies for the coroner. This would be for a five-year contract, with the county able to opt out under certain circumstances.
Bids were received from Bath-Naylor for $550; First Call of Kansas, $165 per trip; and Derfelt Funeral Home, $300 for the first year, with a $25 increase each of the subsequent years.
Decision on the bids was put off for another session.“I think we need to do some research,” said commissioner Bob Kmiec.
Commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. Monday for canvassing of the vote from the Aug. 7 primary election, followed by a commission meeting. There will be no commission meeting on Tuesday.
