Rutherford County officials have proposed a new forensic center, potentially located off Weakley Lane in Smyrna.
Let’s give a little background on why Rutherford County needs a forensic center.
When a county medical examiner orders an autopsy following a death, the body must be sent to a forensic center where a certified forensic pathologist conducts the autopsy.
Rutherford County currently sends all autopsies to Davidson County, to be performed at the price of $2,300 per autopsy. Rutherford County currently sends 300 to 350 bodies for autopsy each year, which makes the cost for Rutherford County average between $700,000 and $800,000 annually.
With Rutherford County having its own forensic center, the county would have that savings of $700,000 to $800,000 per year, of course minus the operations and overhead cost to run the building.
Additionally, Rutherford County could then start charging other counties a lesser rate of, let’s say, $2,100 per autopsy, in an effort to entice some other counties to use a new Rutherford County Forensic Center and increase our county revenue. The forensic center then becomes a revenue source and a savings to Rutherford County and its taxpayers.
There is the initial cost of building and the equipment to start the project, but the return on investment should come between 3 to 7 years based on cost of buildout and the new income from other counties. With my own experience in building out commercial buildings, even at the high end, we should have a ROI within a max of 7 years.
Tennessee currently has only five forensic centers. As we all know, our population is exploding.
Between 2010 and 2021 the population of Rutherford County, Tennessee, increased by 33.5%, growing from 263,721 residents to 352,182, according to numbers from usafacts.org. For comparison, the U.S. population grew 7.3% and Tennessee’s population grew 9.8% during that period.
As Rutherford County continuously grows, the cost will also grow for the county, which will have to find the resource for this cost. Building the forensic center will eventually lessen the financial burden on the county residents and administration, and the plan to accept autopsies from other counties should allow a Rutherford County forensic center to become self-sustaining.
The new forensic center could also work with MTSU and other local colleges as a partnership for the students here in Rutherford County.
Further details and numbers on a proposed local forensic center will be presented to the Rutherford County Budget and Finance Commission, and after review they will send their recommendation to the full county commission.
As we all love our community and county, the fact remains Rutherford County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. I appreciate the work of the previous administration and the current administration for continuing to make Rutherford County one of the best places to live.
