My wife passed away recently and in the course of working on documentation for insurance and Social Security, I needed to go to the Snohomish County Health Department to obtain death certificates. It came as a shock to find the county charges $20 each for copies of the certificate and it is generally recommended that you purchase 10 copies, as many entities require an original. That’s a total of $200.
The certificate is a piece of paper printed on two sides with no original signatures. They are numbered consecutively. I know there is a setup cost for preparing the information that is entered into the certificate. But once that is done, there is essentially no further cost.
If Snohomish County wants to charge a setup fee of even $30 to $35, I have no problem with that. Once that’s done, any further copies beyond the first copy should be $1 to $2 each. The county has a monopoly, as there is nowhere else to obtain these certificates. Are they taking advantage of that?
Sherwood Sage
Mukilteo
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
