Ashtabula County Coroner Dr. Robert Malinowski says he will keep his office open, even though it could mean his deputy coroner and two full-time investigators will be working without pay the last six weeks of 2009.

A report issued by County Auditor Roger Corlett this week showed that with six county pay days left in 2009, including Friday’s payroll, the coroner will run out of salary money after making the Nov. 13 payroll. County Administrator Janet Discher said the coroner had 5.88 payrolls in the line item for his salary.

The coroner requested commissioners transfer money from his contract-services line item to salaries, but Discher said Friday afternoon that request had been denied because the money left in that line item already is encumbered.

“That money is fixed to pay for the autopsies. It’s our fourth-quarter payment to the Cuyahoga County Coroner,” Discher said.

In a press release issued Friday by Malinowski, the coroner said he will be undergoing surgery in early November and will not be able to perform the duties of coroner for approximately six weeks. He said he should be “more than capable of performing my job, as required by law” after he has healed from the surgery. During his absence, Dr. Pamela Lancaster, deputy coroner, will fill in for Malinowski. Lancaster is paid out of the salaries line item. Malinowski said her pay won’t be increased during his absence.

“We’ve done this for years, anytime I’ve been on vacation, out of town, in the hospital,” Malinowski said. “The office is covered. That’s the way we work. It’s not going to be any different, except (the staff) won’t be getting paid for it because the commissioners have decided not to give the coroner’s office money for employees. The coroner’s office has two full-time employees and one part-time, but the commissioners have nine employees to do the work of three commissioners.”

As with all other elected officials and county offices, the coroner has seen his appropriations reduced several times during 2009. Discher said budget analyst James Hardin, when issuing his financial report to elected officials at the end of each month, repeatedly warned them that finances throughout the year would be extremely tight and they should take measures to reduce expenses early on.

“That message was sent all along,” she said.

Malinowski made some adjustments in spending, but salaries were not among them. He requested commissioners provide him with more money to pay his staff, but Malinowski said Friday that his request had been denied.

In the press release, Malinowski said he can’t lay off his investigators, Rich Mongell and James Baehr, because the office cannot be shut down.

“These people are truly professional and very dedicated to their job, and they have told me that they will continue to work,” he stated in the press release. “They indicated that it would not be fair or proper that the families of the deceased should have to suffer because of the inaction of some politician. We have an obligation to see that the deceased are treated with respect and dignity and that the truth be told about the circumstances of their death.”

Mongell said Malinowski told his staff he has the money in the salary account and “we will continue to work.”

“He’s not laying us off. We’re continuing to work,” Mongell said.

But the coroner said it probably will be uncompensated work after the middle of November unless the commissioners come up with more money.

“They are such idiots. They will say: ‘That’s fine. We’ll let them do their jobs for nothing,’” Malinowski said.