Dubois County Coroner requests 7% pay raise, warns of future staffing issues

The Dubois County Council heard several concerns regarding the coroner’s office at Monday’s regular meeting.

Regarding the department’s deputies, Dubois County Coroner Katie Schuck requested the council consider a 7 percent pay raise for her office rather than the proposed 2 percent increase. She told the council the lower rate fails to account for the unique demands and increased workload facing her six-person team.

Schuck was seeking an additional $7,900 on top of the current budget to cover the pay. The increase would provide $1,476 more for the coroner position, $1,174 for the chief deputy, and $1,100 each for four deputy coroners.

“I know 7 percent seems like quite a bit when you compare it to other offices, but if the sheriff’s office gets $100,000 (pay) plus 2 percent on $100,000 is quite substantially more than 2 percent on $20,000,” she told the council. “I don’t understand how you can equate that. It seems like it should be more prorated based on how much the salary is.”

Council President Mike Kluesner had asked Schuck to break down the hours the employees of the coroner’s office work.

Schuck reported the coroner’s office operates with six employees working equal 12-hour shifts per month, though schedules vary based on their full-time jobs elsewhere. Schuck works at a funeral home, while the deputies work at the ambulance service, hospital, and other locations.

Schuck told the council that coroners also work hours in addition to the regular shifts, depending on the demands of the office. She explained that there may be more than one death that occurs at one time, requiring more than one coroner to respond. She also explained that when scheduling autopsies, they may occur outside of the scheduled shift, and the coroner or deputy coroner is required to attend those autopsies.

“And then there’s multiple other phone calls and follow-up duties that are required that also are out of that 12-hour shift,” she said. “A lot of times, we’re doing a lot of follow-up work for the family. We may have to call in a biohazard cleanup for those families. We call in pastoral care, the loss teams, in the case of a suicide. All that follow-up work is probably done outside of our 12-hour shifts.”

She also reported the coroner’s office has seen a significant increase in cases since Deaconess took over Memorial Hospital. The hospital now serves as a regional trauma center, receiving transfers from surrounding counties.

“There are many hospitals that Deaconess uses in the nearby areas and they’re transporting a lot of those individuals to the hospital here now because of the level of trauma center that we are,” Schuck said. “The hospital here is required to notify us on every single hospital death whether that’s inpatient or ER whether it’s accident or natural death so we can determine whether we need to come work that case or not.”

The increased workload extends beyond Dubois County residents. When patients from surrounding counties die at the local hospital, those cases become the responsibility of the Dubois County’s coroner’s office.

Schuck also highlighted that her office operates without county-provided vehicles, requiring deputies to use their personal cars and pay for their own gas and repairs. Schuck explained that she had been denied coverage from the county when her own vehicle’s windshield was damaged while she was on official travel for her office.

Pointing again to the sheriff’s office, she stated that they have a county-provided vehicle that can be used as personal transportation while she and the deputy coroners are pulling up to an incident in their own personal vehicles.

The situation is complicated by the relationship with Becher-Kluesner Funeral Home, which serves as the county’s morgue since Memorial Hospital lacks cooling facilities.

Joe Kluesner, funeral director, stated they provided those services at minimal cost to the county, even though they pick up the individuals and hold them for autopsies.

“I am your morgue. We’ve been your morgue for the past 50-plus years,” Kluesner said.

He added that he doesn’t charge the county unless the individuals are transferred to a different funeral home.

Kluesner noted that the funeral home also deals with indigent cases where township trustees are legally required to pay for burial expenses, but often provide only $500 instead of the full cost. The minimum cost for burial is about $2,500.

“Most we ever get is about $500 from the trustee. So that could be a $2,000 loss for those cases,” Kluesner said. “We probably do six to 10 of those a year.”

Schuck also informed the council that several deputies plan to retire, creating additional staffing concerns. New deputies will require extensive training, including a two-weekend course and a comprehensive board exam that even medical doctors have failed.

“It’s not just as simple as electing a coroner and getting the deputies right away,” Schuck said. “You have to go to two weekend training, you have to pass a board exam and the board exam’s actually very extensive.”

During the discussion, Schuck also explained that the coroner’s office faces a potential crisis as pathologist Dr. James Jacobi, who comes from Bedford and is forensic certified, plans to retire when Schuck’s term ends. The hospital’s pathologist will only handle natural deaths, not forensic cases involving homicides, suicides, or overdoses.

“That’s going to leave us in a big pinch in the future,” Schuck told the council. “Individuals probably have to transport to Evansville for the autopsy. Someone from the coroner’s office has to arrange that transport. That’s going to have to be paid for.”

County officials acknowledged the complexity of the situation and indicated they would schedule further discussions about restructuring the coroner’s office for future budget planning while considering the immediate pay raise request.

Councilman Alex Hohl said he recognized the demands being placed on the department. He added that with the aging population and the size of the county, those demands would likely continue to increase. “I think this is a very reasonable ask when you look at the bi-weekly pay for your deputies and just the influx and the amount of stuff we deal with all the surrounding counties,” he said.