By Emma Rausch
emma@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – The Wabash County Council approved more than $100,000 in additional appropriations Monday night, July 24.
The majority of the appropriations were for the Wabash County Coroner’s Office and the Wabash County Solid Waste District.
The County Coroner’s Office requested $50,000 for autopsy current and anticipated expenses while the Solid Waste District requested $54,000 for materials management.
“My office is already in the hole,” Coroner Suzie Lewis said. “I have done 12 overdose autopsies so far this year and I’m on number 33 autopsies already. Back when I got my autopsy money in May, I was broke so I’ve got to pay those and I’m only at half of the year.”
Chairman Jeff Dawes reminded the council that a portion of Lewis’s beginning budget in 2017 was used to pay off expenses from 2016. Dawes also noted that there was a change in Indiana law that requires autopsies to be performed on all overdose cases.
Read more on the Wabash County Council in the Aug. 2 issue of The Paper of Wabash County.