County approves new coroner fees, authorizes nonreverting fund for revenue

Warren County commissioners on Monday approved a new ordinance that sets fees for coroner services and establishes a nonreverting fund to retain fee revenue for coroner use.

The ordinance sets several specific fees: a $35 fee for completing paperwork and investigating/issuing a cremation authorization when the coroner has accepted a case; storage fees when a body is held beyond 48 hours with a $25 per‑day charge for bodies the coroner has accepted and funeral homes do not immediately retrieve; a $75 per‑day storage fee when the funeral home requests the county to hold a body because it lacks refrigerated capacity; a $50 additional fee for pickup or drop‑off outside normal business hours; and a $350 charge for requested transports where a funeral home’s contractor is unavailable and the coroner’s office provides the service.

The coroner told commissioners that other counties are pursuing similar fees and that the new fund — proposed as a 4,000 series nonreverting user‑fee fund — would let the coroner retain revenues to offset direct costs (vehicle maintenance, cooler handling, after‑hours staff time) rather than depositing smaller amounts to county general. Commissioners discussed advertising the fee schedule and agreed to establish the fund as nonreverting so the coroner could plan for equipment and operating costs without reverting the receipts to county general.

The ordinance passed on a voice vote. Staff said any collected fees would be invoiced and allocated to the new fund after the fund number is established. The coroner noted the office will move a cooler to the funeral‑home location and coordinate logistics once the funding mechanism and operations are in place.