Pueblo County is planning to request more state funds to address costs related to the August discovery of decomposing human remains at the Davis Mortuary owned by the county’s former coroner.
The county commissioners voted to send a letter to the governor asking to raise the total funding cap from $1 million to $1.5 million. They and other local Pueblo officials are also asking for the state to increase its portion of costs from 50 percent to 70 percent.
A county resolution approved Tuesday, Oct. 28, said the commissioners believe “...the costs of response, consequence management, and hazard mitigation regarding the Coroner incident will be well over $1 million, costs which were not budgeted for and are not within the County’s budget.”
Officials say this is due to higher-than-anticipated expenses related to forensic processing like DNA testing and autopsies, as well as having to pay for outside coroner services.
“The scale and unique complexity of the incident, including the loss of local coroner functionality and the extraordinary volume of forensic processing, have resulted in costs that substantially exceed the funds allocated,” according to the language of the county’s resolution.
The state previously allocated $300,000 in assistance.
Earlier this month, Davis Mortuary and Davis Crematory relinquished their registrations. As part of that process, designee and former Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter said they won't apply for reinstatement at any time in the future. The case remains under investigation.
