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Coroner outlines revenue limits, new testing tools and budget pressures
Summary
The county coroner said most coroner revenue comes from DOC reimbursements and state autopsy reimbursements (40%); new in-house testing equipment and a switch to more capable skip-tracing services are improving turnaround but increase costs.
Walla Walla County—s coroner told commissioners the office—s 2026 budget depends on reimbursable work and unpredictable revenue streams, and described operational changes meant to speed case processing.
"Most of our revenue dollars come from DOC," the coroner said, explaining that the county is reimbursed when it picks up prisoners or performs autopsies mandated by the state. The state reimburses 40% of certain autopsy costs, he said, and family reimbursements for indigent remains occasionally materialize months after the service.
The coroner described operational investments that affect the budget. The office recently switched skip-tracing vendors to improve next-of-kin identification and added an on-site testing instrument (Rondox) that can give positive/negative results and is expected to gain quantitative capability; that can reduce the number of full autopsies needed. "When we're trying to determine whether or not we need to do an autopsy, that additional quantitative capability will be helpful," he said.
Budgetary catches included a coding error that hid indigent-burial expenditures (actuals suggest about 15 indigent burials this year, not the near-zero shown in a line item) and a need to align budget lines with where expenses were posted. Commissioners asked about pathology contracts; the coroner said pathology work is contracted to the Tri-Cities and is less expensive than flying in locum pathologists.
On staffing, the office asked for modest increases to account for on-call and continuing-education obligations and for stability so investigators can take vacation without creating gaps. Commissioners pressed for a budget line for skip-trace subscription costs, which have risen because the new vendor provides more detailed relationship and vehicle registration data.
No formal vote was taken; commissioners asked staff to correct coding errors in the accounts and to present a cleaned budget showing the corrected indigent-burial line and expected reimbursements.
