Schuylkill County will no longer pay its 30 deputy coroners a la carte for mileage and services.

Commissioners this week approved coroner David J. Moylan's request to bundle payments for mileage, photographs and documentation into one $50 per incident rate instead of per item.In extraordinary cases, with preauthorization by the coroner or chief deputy coroner, a separate fee for photographs and travel of more than 50 miles will be considered, on a case-by-case basis.The change, which starts today, will save about $7,000 a year, Moylan said. He couldn't provide an exact figure because the amount saved will depend on how many incidents deputies respond to.Last year, his office paid the deputies a total of $98,949, excluding mileage.From January to June of last year, the pay ranged from a low of $90 to a high of about $10,000, according to Albert Nastasi, a financial consultant for the coroner's office.The deputies responded to about 600 incidents last year, Moylan said."Without bundling, we were paying up to $35 for photographs to document scenes and conditions of bodies. Now, that will rolled into one payment," he said.Moylan said his office has provided the deputies with digital cameras."The policy had been in place for many years, back to when you had to buy and develop film. With the digital cameras, we're capitalizing on the economies given to us by technology," he said.The mileage was set at the federal government reimbursement rate, which this year is 56 cents a mile."But we have enough deputies to cover the county, so no one has to travel many miles," Moylan said.He said he also cut costs by buying a used van last year that can carry two bodies. He's renting it to the county for $1 a year. Using the van cuts down on travel costs for deputy coroners, he said.In other matters, commissioners approved a contract with First Assistant District Attorney Maria Casey to provide legal services to the Children and Youth Services agency at $2,506 per month, retroactive to Aug. 1 and through June 30, 2015.Commissioner Gary J. Hess cast the sole opposing vote. He said that he believes the contract may violate the county rule that its full-time employees may not take additional jobs with the county."I think this is a fine line in interpretation," he said.He said the policy was adopted in 2004 to prevent employees from using the additional jobs to generate overtime pay."I know it's professional services, but it's still money being spent by the county," Hess said.Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said that doesn't apply because Casey's contract is for professional services.County administrator Mark Scarbinsky said that several lawyers in the county's employ have similar contracts."We are in compliance. This is a separate contract. It's not employment as an employee," he said."I think it's something that needs to be addressed so we don't have these gray areas," Hess said.Staudenmeier said commissioners twice tabled the matter to ask the county bar association and the state County Commissioners Association for advice on the matter. Both groups gave them the green light.Also this week, commissioners awarded the job of collecting electronic materials and recycling for this year's fall cleanup to the sole bidder, SAMR, Lakewood, New Jersey, at a unit cost of 7 cents per pound.The county also gave the job of collecting tires for the cleanup to Mahantongo Enterprises, Liverpool, Perry County at a unit cost of $70 per ton.The company was among two seeking the job.