The coroner needs a new home.
On that, everybody seems to agree.
The county needs it to be affordable.
On that, we definitely agree.
On the need, death investigations have been up. Since January, the coroner’s office has handled 430 death investigations, where normally it investigates 300 to 400 deaths in a single year.
Last year, due to COVID-19, the number reached into the 600s. This year, the office is prepared to handle up to 700 deaths, a number that may begin picking up.
Those who must handle the bodies deserve much appreciation and a whole lot more, particularly during a pandemic featuring an easily spread deadly virus.
They absolutely deserve a place to shower off after doing work that few among us would be willing to do.
They absolutely need a place to wash vehicles that transport bodies other than the same carwash the public uses.
They absolutely deserve adequate space for this demanding job.
This past week, Commissioner Scott Metzger acknowledged the “adverse conditions” under which the coroner’s staff have been working.
To their credit, the commissioners have been searching for a new home for the coroner. They have looked at 10 properties and shown Kiessling two, each of which would have cost less than $900,000.
He rejected them for technical reasons. He has that right — it will do no good to buy a building that doesn’t meet the needs.
Now the county is looking at a facility appraised at five times that amount, but is it a wise use of taxpayer money?
The building has more than adequate space, including enough for a regional pathology facility that Kiessling has proposed. Such a facility would allow autopsies related to criminal incidents to occur locally, instead of requiring police and coroner personnel to travel to Allentown.
But Kiessling hasn’t sold commissioners on a regional facility’s need, even as he’s seeing opportunities for such in the $5 million building being eyed.
In the bartering that’s been going on, he’s agreed that the bigger building could house other county operations. Magistrate judge space. Central processing. A DUI center.
Yes, the county could fill this building and vacate other spaces, but will this plan be cost-efficient? We would like to see the balance sheet that compares costs and savings.
Besides spending tax dollars, let’s remember that this purchase would remove yet one more property from the tax rolls and further squeeze existing taxpayers, unless an equal amount of county property could be sold to a private entity to make up the loss.
The commissioners have a delicate balancing act to perform on behalf of the people county government serves, and they are correct to take into account the impact on taxpayers.
“We must be responsible for taxpayer money. We need to accomplish this at an affordable price,” Mussare said. “We can’t spend money lavishly.”
Fellow Commissioner Rick Mirabito agreed, adding: “It has to be a project that stays within budgetary constraints of the county.”
And that’s the bottom line.
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August 13, 2021 at 12:42PM
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On coroner's office, county correct to focus on bottom line - Williamsport Sun-Gazette
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