The Lucas County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 7 to extend 2024 contract pricing for out-of-county autopsy and death-investigation services for 60 days, through the end of February, while county staff pursue follow-up meetings with neighboring jurisdictions and finalize a pricing plan.

The action followed a detailed presentation from Lucas County Coroner Dr. Blumquist, who told commissioners the office had planned a step increase in out-of-county contract rates but stopped implementation after neighboring jurisdictions cut their prices late last year. “We’re freezing this new contract until we can resolve issues,” Dr. Blumquist said, describing a sudden loss of several contracted cases and what he called an emergent pricing race that threatened roughly $300,000 in expected revenue.

The extension gives Dr. Blumquist, the county’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff and affected counties time to hold town-hall style meetings and negotiate a new approach. Dr. Blumquist said town-hall meetings were already scheduled for late January to discuss court-related needs and other operational factors with counties that might switch providers.

Why it matters: Dr. Blumquist told the board that roughly half of autopsies performed in the county are for Lucas County residents and half are for other counties. He said the county’s cost-per-out-of-county autopsy — accounting for shared facility and staffing costs — is about $2,700, while in-county cases run about $3,200. Those figures, he said, reflect fixed costs and economies of scale that make outright elimination of out-of-county work likely to increase costs borne by Lucas County taxpayers.

Dr. Blumquist described competing offers from other providers: he said some counties had signaled bids near $1,850 per autopsy and that the sudden downward move by larger counties had altered projected revenues. He warned commissioners that a 15% planned price increase could be offset by larger revenue losses if partner counties moved to lower-priced providers.

Commissioner Anita Lopez said she appreciated Dr. Blumquist’s “steadfast approach” and supported the 60-day extension to allow the office and OMB to finish outreach. Commissioner Pete Gerken and Board President Lisa Cibecchi likewise voted in favor; the clerk called a roll of unanimous yeas.

What the extension does and next steps: The extension maintains 2024 contract terms for existing out-of-county partners through Feb. 28, 2025. County staff will hold the scheduled meetings, analyze court and operational drivers identified in those conversations and return to the commissioners with a revised pricing or contracting recommendation within approximately one month.

The board recorded the vote as an approval of the 60-day extension; there were no abstentions or recorded no votes.

Ending: The coroner’s office and OMB will report back to the board with a recommended contract strategy following the end of the outreach period; commissioners signaled support for additional staff-level discussions and potential follow-up actions tied to those recommendations.