Kootenai County approves $14,400 increase for burial and cremation aid amid one commissioner�objection

Kootenai County commissioners on March 31 approved a $14,400 increase to the FY26 burial and cremation operating budget to cover additional indigent cremation requests.

Clerk Jennifer Lock told the board County Assistance has seen more cremation applications and state-required approvals in fiscal year 2026 compared with 2025. She said the departmentoperates on a small budget (FY26 operating budget cited at $29,004) and that, as of her memo dated March 20, the department had processed 17 state-required approvals versus 16 at the time of the memo. "We are asking for an additional $14,400 to cover 12 additional cremations for the remainder of the fiscal year," Lock said.

The board discussed funding options, including contingency funds; the chair and one commissioner preferred using contingency but the final motion used fund balance. Commissioner Everline opposed using county funds for cremations and stated, "I'm opposed to cremation." The motion to approve the $14,400 transfer from fund balance carried 2to1 (Everline Nay; Commissioner Duncan Aye; Chairman Matari Aye).

Lock told the board that if further increases occur the department would return to seek additional funding and that any unspent money would be returned to fund balance. She also noted the county had a contingency balance of about $142,930 available and that the burial/cremation account had limited remaining funds prior to the transfer.

The board did not change eligibility criteria during the meeting; the action was a budget transfer only. No public comment on this item was recorded.

The motion was recorded as approved; next procedural steps would be processing the fund transfer and administering the additional payments as needed.