For residents and organizers

Four steps, from your town to the council floor

Every step below uses records your town already holds. Start with the town and end with the agenda.

01

Look up your town

The town page carries its grade, its certified total, its ledger total and every source document.

02

Read the grade

AGrade A
The report ties to the ledger and the money reached an approved use.
BGrade B
Small differences, none of them structural.
CGrade C
Material differences, or records that did not fully arrive.
DGrade D
A capped failure type is present.
FGrade F
Certified spending that does not exist in the books.
Records refused
The town withheld the ledger, so the books cannot be checked.
Records pending
The request is open and the ledger has not arrived.
Read the rubric

03

Request the records yourself

[CUSTODIAN NAME],

Pursuant to the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., I am requesting the following government records.

Item 1: All resolutions adopted by the governing body of [MUNICIPALITY] inserting opioid settlement revenue into the municipal budget (Chapter 159 resolutions), from January 1, 2022 to present.

Item 2: The budget detail inquiry or account ledger for each account of [MUNICIPALITY] that holds or disburses National Opioid Settlement proceeds, from the date each account was created to present, showing the date, amount, check number, purchase order number, vendor and description of each transaction.

Fill in the bracketed fields and send it under your own name. The custodian has seven business days.

04

Bring it to the council

  1. 01

    Speak in public comment

    Read the certified total and the ledger total aloud. Name the document behind each figure.

  2. 02

    Put the question to the clerk in writing

    A written question enters the minutes. Ask which ledger entries stand behind the certified amount.

  3. 03

    Ask for a resolution

    A resolution directs the town to publish its opioid account beside the report it certified.