ALBANY — The city morgue could become the next victim of state budget cuts that would slash the agency’s resources, The Post has learned.
Bloomberg administration officials said yesterday that they may have to lay off 181 of the 600 technicians, investigators and forensic pathologists at the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner after lawmakers failed to restore a $16 million-aid cut proposed by Gov. Cuomo.
The reduction — more than a quarter of the venerable investigative agency’s annual budget — may force the closure of the medical examiner field offices in Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx, city officials said.
“The budget cuts will have a devastating impact on the services we deliver to public health and criminal justice,” Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch said.
“They will seriously impact every aspect of our operations.”
Hirsch and a representative of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., will travel to Albany Tuesday to lobby for restorations before Cuomo strikes a final budget pact with legislative leaders.