By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
CARO — Tuscola County Commissioners took action that led to the demise of the “county’s death tax” at the last county meeting.
Back at the Oct. 31 county meeting, commissioners approved a motion for the Tuscola County Health Department to charge a fee for processing death and cremation certificates so there would be enough money to have someone available five days a week to do work instead of just four days. A letter with the new fees was sent to area funeral homes.
However, when their decision was called into question at a subsequent meeting by Mark Ransford of Ransford – Collon Funeral and Cremation Service, commissioners voted at their November meeting to rescind that motion and to send another letter of that decision to funeral homes that the fee structure wouldn’t change.
The plan had been for the health department to charge a $40 fee for each certificate of death, including electronic, and a $35 fee for each cremation permit starting with the new year.
“It comes down to it, you are taxing people who die. It’s a death tax,” stated Ransford during his argument against the fee, noting he felt the fee was illegal.
However, Tuscola County Health Department Director Gretchen Tenbusch countered there is an Attorney General opinion allowing the fee, and the county’s attorney had also reviewed the fee change without finding issue.
Because of the conflict of opinions, commissioners voted to rescind the motion to keep the fees the same, which makes the county’s death tax a dead issue now.
Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.