Dear Editor:
In your “Crime Lab Underfunded” editorial, you referenced a Clarion Ledger article as the basis of the facts. The funding level of the State Medical Examiners’ Office was greatly increased during the past legislative session.
As sub-committee chairman overseeing the Department of Public Safety budget, I, along with appropriations chairman Sen. Buck Clarke (who also represents Madison County), met with Commissioner Marshall Fisher during the first few weeks of the session. Commissioner Fisher enlightened us on his financial challenges of employing medical doctors to perform autopsies.
Chairman Clark and I were able to re-purpose funds from some other budgets to make $713,497 additional funds available. The legislature adopted this increased budget.
The $713,497 increased appropriation in our current budget year will be available for the agency to enhance the salaries of the 2 medical examiners and provide salaries and benefits to hire 2 additional medical examiners. An office on the MS Gulf Coast can be re-opened, reducing transportation costs for autopsies performed in south Mississippi.
For this state agency’s budget, the process worked. Legislators met with the agency director, heard his concerns, and funded the need.
Senator Walter Michel
Madison / Hinds Counties
