Opioid crisis affects county budget

The Miami County commissioners were told Thursday that the opioid crisis has made it extremely difficult to project expenses for the county coroner’s office.

The commissioners, who earlier in the year received notice from Coroner William Ginn that more money might be needed this year for autopsies because of overdose deaths, received an update on the office’s finances during a discussion of 2018 budgets. The county contracts with Montgomery County to conduct the autopsies.

Angie Hubbard of the county auditor’s office who works with the finances reviewed the budget in place of Ginn, who she said was unable to attend.

As of Sept. 30, $80,000 had been spent on autopsies this year out of $100,000 budgeted.

The price of autopsies rose this year to $1,550 each. The amount of money proposed for autopsies in the 2018 budget was increased to $150,000.

An increase also is expected next year in the contract for the transportation of bodies.

The number of overdose deaths and autopsies declined somewhat in the third corner but that and elated costs are being watched “extremely closely,” Hubbard said.

“It is just really hard to predict.

The opioid crisis is definitely affecting these numbers this year,” she said.