MANSFIELD — Richland County Coroner Daniel Burwell asked commissioners Tuesday to convert his administrative assistant into a full-time employee with a pay increase, a move that could cost the county about $10,000 over the remainder of 2019.
In response, Commissioner Tony Vero asked the osteopathic physician to look at other segments of his budget to see if there was “wiggle room” that would allow the changes without additional appropriations.
“I know ($10,000) doesn’t sound huge in a (general fund) budget of $33 million, but we do have a break-even budget this year,” Vero said. “The loss of Medicaid MCO sales tax hurt us drastically. So $10,000 on a budget that shows 0.00 is actually is a lot of money.”
Burwell said administrative assistant Randi Ball currently works 29 hours per week at a rate of $11.33 per hour. He would like to change that to 40 hours per week at a rate of $14 per hour, a 19-percent increase.
Ball said she is in the office when the two full-time investigators are not able to be there, pointing out there were three homicides last week in Richland County.
“I answer the phones, I pay the bills, I do payroll and I (digitize) old files,” Ball said, saying state laws prevent the office from being able to dispose of records. “We have files dating back to the 1960s.”
Ball also coordinates communication with Burwell in his private practice.
“I am at his (private) office at least two to three times per week. We are in constant contact,” she said.
Burwell said he believes Ball, who has a bachelor’s degree, is a valued employee who is underpaid and he fears losing her.
He said he has done comparisons with counties of comparable size and found administrative assistant wages vary from a low of $11 per hour to start up to $27 per hour in Greene County in southwest Ohio.
In examining the coroner’s budget, Vero said he saw areas where money could be shifted to cover the requested changes, including vehicles, travel and training.
Ball said she has also looked at areas where costs could be reduced, including morgue cleaning.
Burwell said he would examine his budget and come back to commissioners at a later date.
