Carbon explains $50 cremation fee

Citing the cost of paperwork for an increasing number of cremations, Carbon County commissioners on Thursday adopted a resolution establishing a $50 fee for the service.

“There’s a lot of administrative work,” said Commissioner William J. O’Gurek.

The county coroner by state law must authorize cremations, and many counties have fees, he said.

Carbon County coroner Robert W. Miller Jr. said there were 321 cremations in 2016 and 409 last year.

Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said the authorization helps prevent people from getting away with murder.

Gerhard cited a case of a doctor who had poisoned his wife and had her body cremated and then left the country.

“You’re potentially destroying evidence of a crime,” he said.

Gerhard also cited Schuylkill County’s increase in cremation fees, from $25 to $50 in 2016.

“In 2014 they had 760 cremations. This year, that number is 822, and they expect the number to go even higher.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne E. Nothstein was absent from the meeting.

Luzerne County charges a $60 fee.

The resolution also includes fees for other coroner services, including autopsy reports, $100; toxicology reports, $50; and DNA reports, $100.

In other matters, commissioners approved the acceptance of an $18,244 grant through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for the county’s veterans court.

“Through that grant, we’re purchasing incentives, drug-testing supplies, it will offset the cost of transportation for some of the participants. It will also provide training for our team,” said Chief Adult Probation/Parole Officer Richmond S. Parsons.

The incentives include gift cards and pocket calendars, O’Gurek said.