Cremation will soon require a $25 disposition permit in Pulaski County. The county commissioners Monday adopted a pair of fee-related ordinances recommended by the Coroner’s Office. One of them creates a formal system of releasing bodies for cremation, according to Coroner John Behny. “Any time someone would be cremated, they would contact us and we would authorize, and they would send the money to the Auditor’s Office,” he explained.
The other ordinance lets the Coroner’s Office charge a fee for additional copies of the coroner’s verdict, coroner’s report, and autopsy report. Behny explained that a person’s family will still get a copy for free. But other than that and a few other circumstances, it will now cost $25 for the three-document package. “This serves a couple purposes,” Behny told the commissioners. “This helps with paper trail and so forth, but also, it does help raise a little bit of money. I just think everybody’s getting hammered so much financially with fees, fees, fees, fees. I agree we need something. I also don’t think it needs to be exorbitant.”
It was noted that the fees could always be raised later, depending on the Coroner’s Office’s revenue needs. Behny previously explained that it’s typically insurance companies and attorneys who request the documents.
