In reversal, Quorum Court approves raise for coroner

Reversing a decision made in March, the Union County Quorum Court this month approved a raise for county Coroner Stormey Primm, ending a months-long effort on the coroner's part to increase his salary.

In a 7-3 vote, Justices of the Peace agreed to raise Primm's salary to $48,500, backdated to Jan. 27, 2023. Primm's salary was previously $41,870 annually, so the raise represents a 15% increase in pay.

The topic was first broached in January, when the Quorum Court met for a special-called meeting to consider raises for county employees. Union County Sheriff's deputies, jailers and highway and solid waste employees received 8% raises, while other county employees and elected officials were awarded 6% increases.

District 4 JP Steve Ward asked then if the Quorum Court would consider a further increase for Primm, and other JPs disagreed about whether a bigger raise would be appropriate. District 5 JP Carolyn Jones suggested tabling the issue until members of the Quorum Court had more time to consider it.

In March, the topic was back up for discussion as Primm personally asked JPs for the raise. He cited the high volume of calls he responds to – 600-plus in 2020 and 2021 and nearly 500 in 2022 --, along with additional duties his office has taken on, like transporting bodies, as reason.

District 6 JP Cecil Polk, noting that Primm is his neighbor and he often sees the coroner suiting up for a call – either a local death or an emergency in Norphlet, where Primm serves as a volunteer fire fighter – at all hours of the day and night, spoke in support of the raise.

"Anybody in Norphlet will tell you, 100% -- because you hear compliments – how much he takes care of his job," he said in March.

District 7 JP Johnny Burson, however, noted that while he thinks Primm has done a good job, since the State of Arkansas doesn't require any background in death investigation, future coroners may not warrant the $48,500 salary.

Primm has earned certification in medico-legal death investigation both through the State of Arkansas and the national American Board of Medico-Legal Death Investigators.

"I think you're confusing the job of a coroner with Stormey," Burson said in March. "You're talking about Stormey – how hard he works, how good he does – and that's good, but we're talking about the pay scale for the coroner.

District 3 JP Greg Harrison suggested that Primm's pay could be raised with an ordinance that specifies that a coroner must be certified either at the state or national level to earn $48,500.

Jones moved then to raise the coroner's salary to $48,500 annually, and after some discussion, amended the motion to specify that only a certified coroner would be eligible for that salary.

The motion failed in a 6-4 vote, but the issue was revisited again on April 7, when a special-called meeting of the Quorum Court's finance committee was held.

Dumas spoke in favor of raising Primm's pay at that meeting, citing his own experience serving as coroner. He shared several heart-wrenching stories about his time in the office.

"There is not enough money in the county's coffers to pay me to go back and do the coroner's business," he said then.

The finance committee agreed to propose raising Primm's pay again during the Quorum Court's regular meeting on April 20. The ordinance that was presented at the regular meeting called for raising the certified county coroner's pay to $48,500, effective Jan. 27. Non-certified coroners' pay rate would start at $38,500 and would not be able to exceed $48,500, according to the ordinance.

Burson noted that Union County has the second-highest rate of pay for its county coroner among all of Arkansas's Class IV counties, but Primm said that metric was "comparing apples to oranges."

"We can say Class IV, that's population, but it doesn't reflect the case load," Primm said. "I've been sitting her texting Hot Springs County and Miller County coroners. Hot Springs County, their case number today is 75. Miller County today is on case 104. We're right at 150 cases."

One reason for Union County's high volume of deaths is because it has one of the biggest hospitals in the region.

"Everybody comes here. You either go here if you have something, or you go to Little Rock, and unfortunately, if they come here and they pass away in a short time, we're the ones that handle it," Primm said.

Burson jokingly asked, "So you're saying we're dying quicker than anybody else?"

Polk said he wanted to put the issue to bed and again stated his support for raising Primm's pay. Dumas motioned to adopt the ordinance and Harrison seconded.

Dumas, Harrison, Ward, Jones, Polk, District 10 JP Ross Burton and District 11 JP Philip Hamaker voted in favor of the raise; Burson, District 8 JP Donnie Crawford and District 9 JP Benny Vestal voted against it.

"I would like to thank our JPs for our continued support of our office and for supporting me the past five years. The learning and the growing doesn't stop here and I look forward to continuing to work with our Quorum Court," Primm said in a text message Friday.

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