Linn County preliminarily approves Medical Examiner FY2027 budget; purchasing to issue RFP for transport

The Linn County finance and budget committee preliminarily approved the Medical Examiner’s FY2027 proposed budget of $851,650, with projected intergovernmental revenues of $70,000. Budget Director Sarah Barrows presented the item and explained assumptions behind fee and autopsy estimates.

Barrows said $320,850 is budgeted for medical examiner fees in FY27 and $30,000 remains budgeted to pay Dr. Linder for autopsy-related services. Autopsy costs were reduced in the proposed budget to $300,000 from higher actuals in recent years; staff noted FY25 autopsy costs totaled about $253,000 and that there have been roughly 54 autopsies year‑to‑date in FY26.

Barrows and staff called out transport costs as a growing pressure. "They're going to do a new RFP to see if we can, even if we can't reduce the transport costs, we could at least stabilize them so that we know what to expect year over year," Barrows said. The purchasing division will issue the RFP (work described as planned in FY26) to explore whether consolidation or different contracting approaches with ambulance services or funeral homes can reduce year‑to‑year volatility.

A supervisor asked whether out‑of‑county transport or transport included in intergovernmental reimbursements is billed; staff said the county bills the full cost (including transport) to the resident’s county when Linn County conducts work for other counties. The motion to preliminarily approve the Medical Examiner FY2027 budget was made, seconded and passed by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded.

Next steps: purchasing will proceed with the planned RFP on transport services and staff will include KPIs for the medical examiner in next year’s online budget book.