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Council agrees to include 7% wage increase in Coroner's 2026 budget after presentation
Summary
Coroner Katie Schuck presented a 2026 budget requesting a 7% wage increase and noted rising costs and possible pathologist staffing changes; the council reached a consensus to include the wage increase and will work with Schuck on future office needs.
Coroner Katie Schuck presented the Coroner's proposed 2026 budget at the Dubois County Council meeting on Aug. 25 and asked the council to include a 7% wage increase for department employees.
Schuck outlined factors supporting the request, including travel, shift work, autopsy coverage and case work, and noted that the office's operations could change if the current pathologist retires. She said Becher Kluesner Funeral Home has served as the county morgue for more than 50 years and has often handled funeral arrangements when families are unable to pay; by law, township trustees should pay at least for cremation but trustees rarely pay more than $500, while a base cremation costs about $2,500.
The council's consensus was to include the proposed 7% wage increase in the 2026 budget and to continue working with Coroner Schuck to evaluate future staffing and service needs. Councilors discussed the fiscal impacts and the logistics of morgue and autopsy services given recent changes since Deaconess assumed operations at the local Memorial Hospital.
The inclusion of the wage increase was recorded as a council consensus during the departmental budget review; no formal recorded roll-call vote on the wage increase is shown in the minutes. The council asked staff to collaborate with the Coroner's office on longer-term needs and budgeting ahead of the Oct. 14 public hearing and Oct. 27 budget adoption.
