Court approves rotating body-transport policy, adds $20/$30 body-bag fees

The Potter County Commissioners Court adopted a policy on Oct. 13 to rotate body-transport services among approved transport companies rather than automatically dispatch county-paid transport for non-indigent decedents. Jackson, who presented the plan, told the court the county would pay only when a decedent is later determined to be indigent or when a justice of the peace orders an autopsy.

"What this does is it gets us away from paying for transport services that the county isn't necessarily legally obligated to pay for where they're not indigent," Jackson said during the presentation. He said funeral homes would initially pay transport companies and the county would reimburse only after indigency is determined.

The court also accepted two verbal revisions requested during discussion: adding $20 for a body bag and $30 for an oversized body bag to the county payment schedule. Commissioners discussed fairness to transport companies and funeral homes; speaker Mr. Boxwell said the group of providers had signed an agreement and recommended a one-year trial period.

Judge Taylor raised questions about whether transport services needed licensure; Jackson said his office had researched the Funeral Services Commission rules and concluded the transport services involved were not required to hold a license for the work in question. After discussion, the court approved the motion to adopt the rotation policy, including the added body-bag fees, on a 4-1 vote.