Bergen County
Bergen County's treatment and recovery providers tie to its books to the cent, but the County's own Diversion Court program certified 61,357.78 of Prosecutor's Office payroll as contract spending, after a year in which it certified nothing spent over a 30,012.23 salary charge.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Bergen County pays three treatment and recovery providers from its opioid settlement fund. Every provider program it reported for FY2025 and FY2026 ties to the County's checks to the cent.
- The County's own program does not. The FY2026 report says the Central Municipal Diversion Court's 150,317.78 was spent completing contracts previously awarded. 61,357.78 of it is Prosecutor's Office staff time, journaled on 05/12/2026 and 05/14/2026 for work going back to 07/07/2024.
- The FY2024 report certified 0.00 spent and no programs funded. On 05/15/2024 the fund had paid 30,012.23 for Prosecutor's Office staff.
- For FY2025 the Diversion Court reported 51,316.65 spent and 0 participants served. The money was staff time and printed folders moved off the court's own budget.
- In all, 142,686.66 of the fund paid the County back for Prosecutor's Office salaries and court folders.
Summary
Bergen County certified to the State that it received 11,044,796.48 in opioid settlement money and interest from 2022 through 06/30/2026. The money must go to the abatement uses the national settlements list, or to documented evidence-based programs that address the epidemic. It must add to local spending, not replace it.
The County held the money in an Opioid Retainer Agreement account until 09/06/2023, then in an Opioid Settlement Fund Grant account with sub-accounts for contracts, salary chargebacks and administrative costs. Through 08/28/2026 the fund paid out 1,475,192.76, net of one reversed line. Of that, 1,332,473.06 went to three providers under County contracts, and 33.04 reimbursed folders for a town hall. The other 142,686.66 paid the County back for Prosecutor's Office staff time and court folders. The County's print of 08/31/2026 shows 2,071,999.89 more committed, all but 1,171.95 of it to provider orders, and 7,254,546.35 uncommitted. Read the County's findings.
| Where the money went, through 08/28/2026 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Care Plus, doing business as New Bridge Medical, treatment and adolescent services, net of a 12,039.99 reversal | 872,554.69 |
| Children's Aid and Family Services, justice involved, harm reduction and diversion contracts | 388,395.79 |
| Transition Professionals, case management | 71,522.58 |
| Town hall folders | 33.04 |
| Prosecutor's Office staff time, five journals | 141,036.66 |
| Court folders moved off the Central Municipal Court budget | 1,650.00 |
| Paid out | 1,475,192.76 |
The Diversion Court in FY2026
The County's 2023 report named one program, the Bergen County Central Municipal Diversion Court. Its recipient was the County of Bergen Prosecutor's Office. Program participants charged with disorderly persons offenses tied to substance use could have their charges dismissed after six months on a court approved treatment plan.
The FY2026 report updates that program at 150,317.78 spent between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026, with 12 participants served. It explains the figure as completing spending the money from the contracts previously awarded, with no additional monies added. The report prints that same sentence on all six of its program updates.
The books show two things inside the figure.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Children's Aid and Family Services, contract 2300308, check 5003109, 08/29/2025 | 88,960.00 |
| Journal GJ 387, Prosecutor's Office staff time, 05/12/2026 | 61,357.48 |
| Journal GJ 398, Prosecutor's Office staff time, 05/14/2026 | 0.30 |
| Certified for the Diversion Court, FY2026 | 150,317.78 |
The 88,960.00 is the contract the FY2024 and FY2025 reports said was encumbered for the program. The two journals are not a contract payment. They are described as MOVE PROS OPIOID OVERTIME. They charged the fund's salary and wages chargeback line and credited Due to Current Fund, paying the County's current fund back for payroll it had already met. The Prosecutor's Office backup bills a paralegal and an assistant prosecutor for four quarters.
| Quarter billed | Amount |
|---|---|
| 07/07/2024 to 10/05/2024 | 15,794.55 |
| 10/06/2024 to 01/01/2025 | 13,857.97 |
| 04/06/2025 to 06/29/2025 | 17,000.49 |
| 07/06/2025 to 09/28/2025 | 14,704.77 |
| Total | 61,357.78 |
Three of the four quarters, 46,653.01, are work done inside the FY2025 period and charged to the fund on 05/12/2026. Certified prosecutor staff pay as contract spending.
What the County told the State each year
| Year | Certified spent | Paid from the fund in the same period |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2024 | 0.00 | 30,012.23 |
| FY2025 | 381,938.59 | 381,938.59 |
| FY2026 | 972,568.04 | 972,568.04 |
FY2023. The report certifies nothing spent as of 06/30/2023. The books agree. The first commitment, the 88,960.00 Children's Aid contract, was entered on 09/05/2023.
FY2024. The report certifies 0.00 spent and 0.00 of administrative expense. Its answer on administrative expenses says the County is still in the planning phases of these funds. It answers No to whether the County funded any programs that year. Its Diversion Court update reports 0 on every measure and says the contract is encumbered. On 05/15/2024 journal GJ 576 had charged the fund 30,012.23, an OPIOID SETTLEMENT SALARY CHARGEBACK for Prosecutor's Office staff time from 12/31/2023 to 04/06/2024. The time sheets behind it log hours to the Central Municipal Diversion Program Arrest Initiative. Certified zero spent over a 30,012.23 salary charge.
The same period holds one more movement. Wyckoff Township sent the County 16,097.36 under its Resolution 23-296, received on 05/30/2024. Journal GJ 706 moved it out of the grant account on 06/14/2024. No produced print names the account it went to.
FY2025. The certified total ties to the books to the cent. The five provider programs, 330,621.94, are five checks of 06/19/2025. The Diversion Court update, 51,316.65, is three journals. Two are Prosecutor's Office staff time, 31,150.97 for 04/07/2024 to 07/06/2024 and 18,515.68 for 12/29/2024 to 03/30/2025. The third moved 1,650.00 of printed Central Diversion Program folders onto the fund from the Central Municipal Court budget. The same update reports 0 participants served, 0 services and 0 referrals to treatment. Diversion court cost 51,316.65 and reported no one served.
The FY2025 report's figure for money received since 2022 left out the 176,746.53 of interest the FY2024 report had counted. The FY2026 report puts it back.
FY2026. The certified total ties to the books to the cent. The label on the Diversion Court figure does not, as set out above.
The Prosecutor's Office staff time
Five journals charged 141,036.66 of Prosecutor's Office staff time to the fund.
| Journal | Date | Work billed | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| GJ 576 | 05/15/2024 | 12/31/2023 to 04/06/2024 | 30,012.23 |
| GJ 910 | 08/08/2024 | 04/07/2024 to 07/06/2024 | 31,150.97 |
| GJ 529 | 06/05/2025 | 12/29/2024 to 03/30/2025 | 18,515.68 |
| GJ 387 and GJ 398 | 05/12/2026 and 05/14/2026 | four quarters, 07/07/2024 to 09/28/2025 | 61,357.78 |
| Total | 141,036.66 |
The first three posted the same day as credits to the Prosecutor's Grant Credits line, the line where the County also books its VOCA, SART, JAG, STOP, ARRIVE and DLGS salary credits. The County budgets that line as an offset to the Prosecutor's salaries, 937,249.00 in 2024 and 917,866.00 in 2025. The 2026 journals call the time overtime. The paralegal's weekly sheets log mostly 40 hour weeks at 28.85 an hour in 2024 and 30.45 in 2025, and the Prosecutor's overtime appropriation was 550,000.00 in 2024, 2025 and 2026 alike.
The folders followed the same path. The Central Municipal Court ordered 500 printed Central Diversion Program folders on 08/01/2024 and charged them to its own budget. Journal GJ 1179 moved the 1,650.00 onto the fund on 10/07/2024.
The hours are logged to the diversion arrest initiative, Operation Helping Hand, the Overdose Fatality Review Team and other work. Exhibit E's categories name the first three. What the record puts in question is who was already paying for it. Section D(7) of the agreement between the State and its towns requires the money to supplement local spending and not supplant it. That the settlement money took over salary and supply costs the County's own budget carried is this project's inference from these records. Fund paid back 142,686.66 of costs the County already bore.
The providers
On the provider side the County's reports match its books. In FY2025 and FY2026 every provider program the County certified equals its payments to the cent.
| Program | Provider | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addiction and Recovery Case Management | Transition Professionals | 17,230.92 | 37,217.77 |
| Addressing Needs of Justice Involved Persons | Children's Aid and Family Services | 34,816.57 | 159,152.82 |
| Prevention of Overdose Deaths and Other Harms | Children's Aid and Family Services | 20,171.35 | 85,295.05 |
| Misuse Opioids | Care Plus, doing business as New Bridge Medical | 52,399.00 | 162,077.00 |
| Treatment Opioid Use Disorder | Care Plus, doing business as New Bridge Medical | 206,004.10 | 378,474.58 |
The encumbered figures in the FY2024 and FY2025 reports, 88,960.00 and 1,414,381.06, also equal the open contract and orders on the books at each year end. Provider programs tie to the County's checks to the cent.
What should happen
The County can restore the 142,686.66 the fund paid for Prosecutor's Office staff time and court folders, and stop charging County payroll to the fund. The salary chargeback line still had 40,263.34 available on 08/31/2026.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 reports and the journals behind the Diversion Court figures.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.