Published: March 22, 2008 06:54 pm            

Coroner asks state for pay increase, deputy

BWOODBY@CULLMANTIMES.COM



When Cullman County Coroner Gary Murphree asked the county for help, he was turned down. Now, Murphree is asking state legislators to ensure Cullman’s coroner’s office is on the same level as other departments statewide.

“I’m the only coroner in the state without a deputy,” Murphree said. “Some counties have several deputies and they rotate them being on call.”

Since he took office in the 70s, Murphree has been on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week without assistance or relief from anyone. In 2007, he responded to 354 cases, 39 of which were traffic fatalities. Murphree, who works full-time at Moss-Service Funeral Home, said the increasing case-load is too much for him to bare alone.

“Last year I went to the county commission and asked for a raise in my legislative expense allowance, which would have given me some money that I could use to help pay an assistant or deputy coroner, which I am allowed by law to have,” he said. “The commission took out the request that I put in my budget for $2,000 to pay a deputy coroner with.”

The commission did, however, approve a $3,300 increase in Murphree’s legislative expense allowance, which he could use as a salary increase. The increase did not make it to Montgomery in time to be passed during last year’s legislative session, so Murphree was paid $6,700 for his annual coroner’s salary— the same amount he has been paid since 1984.

“So this year, when I put that $2,000 in my budget to help pay for a deputy and they (county commission) took it out, I went ahead and asked Sen. Zeb Little to go ahead and draft a bill to get me the $3,300 they approved last year,” Murphree said.

Little agreed, but he and other local legislators decided to raise the amount of money the county should pay Murphree to $6,000 more, as well as legally require the county to supply him with a vehicle and office space, which the county already provides.

“Morgan County’s coroner just got raised $30,000 a year, and they (legislators) asked me how many cases Morgan County had done and I checked and he had 410 cases. I had 354 last year, so I was not that far behind,” Murphree said.

Aside from the pay difference, Murphree said other coroners in the state have assistants and deputy coroners who can help work cases. Murphree said while a deputy’s pay is not included in the proposed Senate bill, he will ask the county for extra money in next year’s budget or he would take his pay increase to pay for a deputy.

“It has just got to the point Cullman County needs more than one person,” he said.

Cullman County Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens said he understands Murphree’s request for additional money but said cutting his request for deputy pay from last year’s budget was something the county had to do.

“We have to take a lot of things off that’s not in the budget,” Kitchens said. “There are a lot of people that ask for different things, and when we go through the budget process we have to cut things out.”

Kitchens said the commission did their best to give Murphree a pay increase last year and supports the original resolution to boost his salary by $3,300. However, he is not in favor of the proposed legislation nearly doubling that amount.

“We have talked with our legislative body and were down there (in Montgomery) last week and talked to all three representatives and the Senator and they are supposed to have the coroner get back with us because the resolution we passed and the bill is different,” Kitchens said. “We realize he needs more money, but there are some differences in what we set down originally.”

Kitchens said he would like to be able to give every department pay increases but the county can not afford it.

Murphree said he believes the bill should pass this legislative session.

“I’m not asking for a lot of money, but when I started doing coroner work, Cullman County was doing 60 to 70 cases a year in the 80s, and they were getting the same money as I’m getting now. Of course we had more help then. We could call on people to help us more. Now, I have to depend on the sheriff’s department, city police, rapid responders, and the ambulance service to help me because I don’t have anyone,” he said.

“I’m doing really well right now because they help me, but there’s coming a time when Cullman County has to grow up and be like everyone else and recognize the fact people die and it’s important death records be kept accurately. People don’t realize what has to be done unless they’ve been through it.”

        

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