TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - A $50 permit fee for cremations in one northern Michigan county that was approved to help raise money for a medical examiner’s office has been nixed.
Grand Traverse County commissioners voted Wednesday to rescind the fee, citing public opposition, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported (https://bit.ly/1pDFVv0 ). The board in April had approved the fee, and it had been scheduled to kick in on Sunday.
“I’ve heard the term death tax and all kinds of other comments,” board member Addison Wheelock Jr. said during the meeting.
Both a funeral director and a medical examiner must sign a permit before a cremation can occur. A county health official had originally pitched commissioners the idea of a permit fee as a way to get more revenue for the county medical examiner’s office.
Officials expect as many as 1,000 cremation permit requests this year, so the fee could have brought in tens of thousands of dollars. Grand Traverse County spends about $160,000 annually on medical examiner expenses and doesn’t have extra money in its budget for the office.
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Information from: Traverse City Record-Eagle, https://www.record-eagle.com
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