Planned County Budgets Cuts Extend All The Way To The Grave

March 14, 2008

Budget cuts planned in Escambia County will literally to go all the way to the grave. The Escambia County currently pays to bury indigent people that die in the county, but the commission discussed switching from burial to cremation at a Committee of the Whole meeting Thursday.

Escambia County spent $113,400 to bury 102 indigent people in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. That was at an average cost of $1,160 per adult and $335 per infant. It is estimated that it would have cost only $52,200 if those persons had been cremated rather than buried, a savings of over $61,000.

Some deceased persons would still have to be buried. Victims of crimes, suspects in crimes and those that are unidentifiable would still be buried and not cremated. That is because the courts might rule that the body should be exhumed.

The cremation plan was proposed by Commissioner Mike Whitehead.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News