Brick Township
Brick Township certified 307,909.80 of mechanical CPR machines to the State as opioid overdose harm reduction, counted them as spent in a year it had not paid for them, and has committed 944,856.18 of its settlement fund to EMS equipment and an ambulance.
Published 09/23/2026 · Updated 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Brick Township bought ten AutoPulse chest compression machines for its EMS Department for 307,909.80. It told the State the purchase was Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention.
- The one performance figure it reported for the machines is 0 encounters.
- It counted the 307,909.80 as spent in the year ending 06/30/2025. The check cleared 09/24/2025.
- The Council minutes say the settlement "lists ambulances as allowable purchases." The settlement lists no ambulance. The fund paid 333,014.00 for one anyway.
- Of 1,019,624.18 committed from the fund through 07/09/2026, 944,856.18 is EMS equipment and one ambulance.
- The FY2026 report certifies the ambulance and a suction unit, 334,063.60, as overdose Treatment. It also counts the 307,909.80 ZOLL order in FY2026, the year it was paid. The FY2025 report had already counted it as spent.
Treatment got 70,000.00. The CPR machines got more than four times that.
Summary
Brick Township, Ocean County, reported receiving 726,896.39 in opioid settlement money through 06/30/2025. 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 listed uses cover treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction.
The Township's settlement account, G-02-40-650-259, shows 729,448.38 paid and 290,175.80 open through 07/09/2026. That is 1,019,624.18 committed. Of it, 944,856.18 buys mechanical CPR devices, defibrillators, a powered cot, a stair chair, a suction unit and an ambulance for the EMS Department. That is 92.7 percent of the committed dollars. One program in the account ties to a listed use, Bright Harbor Healthcare's referral and outreach program, at 70,000.00.
The Township's FY2025 report to the Department of Human Services certifies the CPR machines as an overdose program. It counts them as spent in a year in which the account had not paid for them. It certifies an 8,750.00 encumbrance that matches no open order on the account at year end. Read the Township's findings.
The CPR machines
On 05/13/2025 the Council adopted Resolution 167-25. It authorizes the purchase of "medical equipment, specifically AutoPulse equipment" at the request of the Chief of EMS and Rescue, charged to the National Opioid Settlement Fund. It states no price, no quantity and no abatement purpose.
The Council minutes of that meeting describe the purchase at 307,909.80. They call the AutoPulse "an automated, portable, battery-powered cardiopulmonary resuscitation device" used "as an adjunct to CPR during advanced cardiac life support." Neither the minutes nor the resolution mentions overdose. The word opioid appears in both only as the name of the fund.
Purchase order 25-01832 to ZOLL Medical Corp. was encumbered on 06/16/2025.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| 10 AutoPulse NXT starter kits | 227,399.20 |
| 10 lithium batteries | 14,670.60 |
| 10 four year service plans | 69,840.00 |
| 8 trade-in allowances | -4,000.00 |
| Net | 307,909.80 |
The FY2025 report certifies a program named Auto Pulse at 307,909.80 expended. It names Brick EMS/Rescue as the recipient. It gives the primary category as Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention and the primary problem as "Ability to render aid to overdose victims." It describes the target population as "Any person (s) that falls victim to a fatal overdose." Its key performance indicator is "Number of services provided/encounters: 0." The certified figure equals the purchase order to the cent. Certified CPR machines as overdose harm reduction.
A second order, 25-03649, bought an eleventh unit with its battery and service plan for 30,206.98. It recites Resolution 167-25. The ZOLL quote it is priced to cites a different cooperative contract, one no produced resolution names. Check 227743 paid it on 04/15/2026. Second AutoPulse order used a resolution with no dollar cap.
What the FY2025 report counted as spent
The FY2025 report covers 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. It certifies 342,909.80 expended. The ledger shows the account paid 35,000.00 in that period.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified expended, FY2025 | 342,909.80 |
| Check 223691, Bright Harbor, 01/29/2025 | 17,500.00 |
| Check 224555, Bright Harbor, 04/23/2025 | 17,500.00 |
| Paid in the period | 35,000.00 |
| Difference, ZOLL purchase order 25-01832 | 307,909.80 |
ZOLL's invoice for the machines is dated 06/30/2025, the last day of the period. Check 226061 paid it on 09/24/2025, in the next fiscal year. The report gives the Auto Pulse launch date as 09/12/2025. Reported an order paid after year end as FY2025 spending.
The same report certifies 8,750.00 appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent. On 06/30/2025 the only open order on the account was the 307,909.80 ZOLL order. The next Bright Harbor order at 8,750.00 was encumbered on 07/21/2025. Certified an 8,750.00 encumbrance no open order matches.
Check 226061 pays ZOLL 313,522.26. The account carries 307,909.80 of it. The other 5,612.46 pays purchase order 25-02521 for 40 AutoPulse shoulder restraints and band packs. That order appears nowhere on the account from 01/01/2022 to 07/09/2026. The Township produced one account and did not state that it is the only one. A ZOLL check paid a 5,612.46 order not on this account.
The reports' balances do not follow from their own figures. The FY2024 report lists 493,365.25 received since 2022 and 743,985.81 unspent on hand. The FY2025 report lists 726,896.39 received and 775,934.83 unspent on hand, after certifying 342,909.80 spent. Each reports more unspent money than the Township says it ever received.
The ambulance
The Council minutes of 10/07/2025 record the award of a contract for one Medix Dodge ambulance for EMS at 333,014.00. The minutes state that the ambulance "is being funded through the Township's National Opioid Settlement Funds, which lists ambulances as allowable purchases."
Exhibit E Schedule B of the national settlement lists uses the money may fund. The list is not exhaustive, but it names no ambulance. No overdose program using this ambulance is documented.
The account paid Defender Emergency Products 333,014.00 for a 2025 Medix MSV157 Dodge 4500 on purchase order 25-03370, check 226477, on 11/26/2025. The FY2025 report had already told the State the Township planned "to puchase 2 Basic Life Support Ambulances in the coming year." Paid 333,014.00 for an ambulance from settlement funds.
Where the fund has gone
| Payee | Purchase | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| ZOLL Medical Corp. | AutoPulse, order 25-01832 | 307,909.80 |
| ZOLL Medical Corp. | AutoPulse, order 25-03649 | 30,206.98 |
| Defender Emergency Products | Medix ambulance | 333,014.00 |
| Stryker | 76 Lifepak CR2 defibrillators, cabinets, data plan, open | 223,213.60 |
| Stryker | Power-PRO 2 cot, Stair-Pro chair, service plans, open | 49,462.20 |
| V.E. Ralph and Son | Laerdal suction unit | 1,049.60 |
| EMS equipment and vehicle | 944,856.18 | |
| Bright Harbor Healthcare | On Point referral and outreach | 70,000.00 |
| Printing and magnets | 4,768.00 | |
| Committed through 07/09/2026 | 1,019,624.18 |
The Council minutes of 04/14/2026 award the defibrillator contract at 223,213.60 and say it "will be reimbursed through the Opioid Grant." The ZOLL orders include 75,840.00 of service plans whose terms run from 2026 to 2030. 944,856.18 of the fund went to EMS equipment.
The Bright Harbor payments are the exception. The FY2025 report certifies Bright Harbor at 35,000.00, and three payments make that figure to the cent. The Council minutes of 11/10/2025 describe the On Point program Bright Harbor runs with the Police Department, outreach with referrals to behavioral health care. Bright Harbor program ties to three payments.
Old equipment traded in
Purchase order 25-01832 credits 4,000.00 for eight AutoPulse units traded in against the ten new ones. The Stryker order credits 13,300.00 for old Defibtech AEDs traded in against the 76 new defibrillators. The Township owned both kinds of equipment before the settlement fund paid for the replacements.
The FY2025 report explains the spending this way. "Our emergency response has been stretched necessitating the need to add new ambulances and replace aging apparatus."
The records do not show which fund bought the traded equipment. That the settlement money took over a cost another fund carried is our inference from these records. Section D(7) of the agreement between the State and its towns requires the money to supplement local spending and not supplant it. Traded in eight older AutoPulse units toward the new ones.
FY2026
The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 702,448.38 spent and 299,275.80 encumbered.
The report lists a new program named Ambulance at 334,063.60. It files the purchase under Treatment, with the primary problem "Ability to render aid to overdose victims," and reports 33 people served. The account paid 333,014.00 for the Medix ambulance on 11/26/2025 and 1,049.60 for a Laerdal suction unit on 12/10/2025. The two payments make the certified figure to the cent. The report's funding and launch date is the date of the ambulance check. No overdose program using the ambulance is documented. Certified an ambulance as overdose treatment.
The report updates the Auto Pulse program at 346,116.78 and reports 25 training or education sessions for it. The two ZOLL orders buy eleven CPR machines with batteries and service plans and net 338,116.78. Certified CPR machines as harm reduction a second year.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified spent, FY2025 | 342,909.80 |
| Certified spent, FY2026 | 702,448.38 |
| Certified spent, both years | 1,045,358.18 |
| Paid from the account through 06/30/2026 | 729,448.38 |
| Excess | 315,909.80 |
The Auto Pulse figure adds the 4,000.00 trade-in credit instead of subtracting it. That puts the FY2026 total 8,000.00 above the 694,448.38 the account paid in the year. Check 226061 paid the first ZOLL order on 09/24/2025, so FY2026 is the year it belongs to. The FY2025 report had already counted it. Together the two reports certify 201,020.97 more spending than the 844,337.21 the Township reports receiving since 2022. The encumbered figure adds the Stryker trade-in credit the same way and leaves out a 17,500.00 Bright Harbor order. Two reports count the same 307,909.80 CPR order.
The other FY2026 programs tie to the books. Bright Harbor's 17,500.00 is two payments of 8,750.00. Project Ice Box, 4,118.00, is a magnet order. Because We Care, 650.00, is a printing order.
What should happen
The account has committed 944,856.18 to equipment certified under a false label, bought to replace what the Township already owned, or tied to no documented overdose program. The Township can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program.
The Stryker orders for 272,675.80 were still open on 07/09/2026. The Township can cancel them against this account.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2025 and FY2026 reports, who prepared them, and what records support them.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.