PORT ANGELES — An inordinate number of autopsies this year has prompted Clallam County’s prosecuting attorney to ask county commissioners to declare a budget emergency and allocate her office an additional $40,000 to cover increased costs.
A public hearing on the “debatable emergency” of the budget increase request from Deborah Kelly is scheduled before the commissioners for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. They meet at the county courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St.
Kelly’s emergency funding request will bring the budget for autopsies this year to $80,000. It’s a figure that could be less, depending on the autopsy demand through December.
“I certainly hope we don’t get there,” she said of the requested amount.
County Administrator Dan Engelbertson said Kelly’s request is “the biggest budget emergency in the last two years from any department.”
Engelbertson said annual autopsy costs rarely rise above $40,000.
Kelly, who doubles as county coroner, blames this year’s soaring number on traffic deaths in Clallam County — 13 since the beginning of the year — as the primary factor driving up the number of autopsies.
