RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — The Richland County Coroner says the office has been in an emergency after an increase in overall deaths and other factors that's contributed to financial strain.
"We are asking for about $302,000 so that the office can continue to operate through the fiscal year ending on June 30th," said Coroner Naida Rutherford.
When the Richland County Coroner took office on January 5th, she realized there would be a money shortage. While the office wasn't sure how severe the deficit would be initially, the money the department needed continued to grow because of incoming bills.
Coroner Rutherford says it's been a challenge because with each death certain things have to happen. This includes things such as body transport if someone dies in their home or car. Since the county doesn't have transportation in-house, they have to hire a third-party to provide those services. The bill each month averages to about $20,000.
"We've had an increase in the number of overall deaths that we've had for the county," explained Rutherford. "Not only do we have about 32% of the 1,500 and 92 deaths that we've had reported here in Richland County be COVID related, but we've also just had a 30% increase in the overall deaths that have been reported for the county."
The Richland County Coroner's Office has use of Prisma Health's morgue.
"What's interesting is that until 2020, the county had never been charged to utilize the morgue at Prisma," said Coroner Rutherford.
News 19 obtained a document by Prisma Health sent to former Richland County Gary Watts indicated the office would pay Prisma for each autopsy case.
The coroner believes it's imperative county council accepts their request for money to keep the office running.
"If you had someone in your family die and I say to you, 'Well we can't do an autopsy. You'll just have to wonder for the rest of your life what happened to your loved one,' That's not an option," explained Coroner Rutherford. "We have to provide this service and I'm hoping that county council sees that."
The coroner went onto say, "Can you imagine us trying to find a place to store the dead citizens of our county? We don’t have the option to say no. This is an emergency and it’s certainly a crisis for this office and we have to have the money."
Coroner Rutherford says she submitted her request and she was informed Tuesday night the county will help provide the funding they need.
The coroner hopes county council will eventually allow her to bring more staff on board and to also bring their morgue service in-house so they don’t have to depend on an outside source to provide that important service.
