MALONE -- Franklin County funeral directors could soon get $250 more for indigent burials and be freed from pursuing reimbursement from survivors to cover their services.

A recent meeting among legislators, funeral directors and Department of Social Services officials included discussions on raising the reimbursement rate from $1,850 per burial, plus the cost of a concrete vault, to $2,100, plus the vault.

Essex County pays $2,750, plus the vault, for indigent burials, while Clinton County pays $1,675, plus the required vault.

Funeral homes in Franklin County might also turn over the responsibility of seeking repayment from the surviving family to Social Services.

Commissioner Lesley Lyon said adding resource and asset recovery would fit in to her agency since it already has the staff, the experience and the framework for these types of collections.

"In the past, we have deducted whatever the family could pay from what we give funeral directors, and it would be up to the funeral director to collect the resources from the family."

For example, if the indigent person who died owned a car, the funeral home would take possession of it to sell, then keep the money toward the cost of funeral services it provided.

"Now, we'll pay the full cost to the funeral directors ... and we'll work with the families to recover resources because we're more equipped to do it," Lyon said.

She said that if a family is able to afford to reimburse the county at only $10 a month, it's easier for the department to wait for the full payment and absorb the delay, rather than the funeral directors.

"We're working with the funeral directors because they have been taking the loss. They don't make a profit, but at least they aren't losing more money."

Another change as a result of the joint meeting could clarify state law that has complicated language to determine whether someone is considered indigent.

If people die with a certain amount of money in the bank, they were not qualified for a county-funded burial, Lyon said.

But now, for example, if a family has $1,500 in the bank, the county would accept that money, give it to the funeral home toward the current $1,850 cost, and the county would make up the $350 shortfall.

"If there are other resources, we charge back the family what we paid so the funeral directors still get what they need," Lyon said.

draymo@pressrepublican.com