SARANAC LAKE — It’s often said that nothing is certain in this world but death and taxes. But, next year, Franklin County will be changing the organizational structure for its taxpayer-funded coroners who attend to around 150 deaths per year.

In an effort to improve coroner availability, the county will be reducing its number of elected coroners from four to two and will have each coroner appoint a deputy coroner to be on-call and provide coverage if the elected coroner isn’t available.

County Manager Donna Kissane said the county has been talking about changing its model for about a decade.

“It’s been a challenge to have four coroners without extensive absences,” Kissane said.

Some extended absences are preventable, some are not, she said.

“For more than a decade, the county has faced recurring challenges in maintaining consistent coroner coverage, particularly during extended leaves of absence, which placed a significant burden on the remaining coroners,” she said in a statement. “This new structure is designed to maintain a four-person team while increasing flexibility, improving coverage and promoting long-term stability within the county’s coroner services.”

When one coroner is out for an extended period, the others pick up the work in their region. If no local coroner can answer a call, they call in coroners from outside the county. Kissane said that doesn’t happened too often.

This means that sometimes it takes a while to get a coroner. The law change is also meant to provide some relief for them, too, Kissane said.

County Legislator Lindy Ellis, who represents the Saranac Lake area, said all legislators were in agreement on the change. She supported the change because she understands there are periods of time when four coroners not working for a variety of reasons — health, wintering down south, travel or work.

Kissane and Ellis said the coroners do a “phenomenal job,” they just need a better structure to ensure a reliable service. They said the coroners have been supporting each other.

County coroners sign most of the death certificates in the county, outside of hospitals or nursing homes. As of Nov. 23, they had attended to 141 deaths so far this year. Kissane said this is about average. It is a paid part-time position. She said there are no set hours for the job.

Ellis said people have asked her if this is being done for savings. She said it’s not. It has to do with improving the essential service they provide to families, police and the community, she said.

Coroner Chairman Ron Keough is based in Saranac Lake, Richard Azar Jr. is based in Tupper Lake, Myron Leonard Jr. is based in Constable and Hubert Wilcox is based in Chateaugay.

All of their terms expire at the end of 2026. Next November, there will be an election to fill two of the seats. The two winners of these seats will appoint deputies in collaboration with the legislature, taking applications for deputies before they’re sworn in on Jan. 1.

Deputies would get the same training as the elected coroners. They’d both perform their duties county-wide.

Kissane said the legislators would draw up more detailed job descriptions and expectations for both positions.

She hopes that if coroners are elected in the north end of the county, that they’d appoint a deputy in the southern end, or vice-versa.

Kissane said most other counties in the area have fewer elected coroners and use deputies instead.