Bridgeton City

Summary

Bridgeton City, Cumberland County, reports to the Department of Human Services each year on its opioid settlement money. 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 City keeps the money in one account, G-02-23-554-000-000, National Opioid Settlement. Most of what it spends is treatment. It pays Recovery Centers of America for residents who cannot afford a treatment stay. It pays All For You Medical to drive residents to the South Jersey Drug Treatment Center for medication-assisted treatment. Its FY2024 and FY2025 reports describe that spending accurately and tie to the books.

The FY2026 report does not. It puts a 25,000.00 donation for Code Blue, a cold-weather emergency program, and a year of phone bills inside the Recovery Centers of America figure. It also certifies a budget balance as money on hand. Read the City's findings.

What the City received

Revenue account G-02-10-554-000 lists 24 receipts from 08/02/2023 to 04/30/2026, totaling 341,832.23. The FY2024 and FY2025 figures equal the receipts in those years to the cent. The revenue account was added on 01/01/2023, so the 87,441.97 received earlier is not on it. The settlement account's opening appropriation, 422,601.87, is that 87,441.97 plus the 23 receipts through 10/31/2025. The revenue record ends on 05/27/2026. It shows 65,230.72 received in FY2026, 4,020.81 less than the FY2026 report.

What the City spent

The settlement account paid 380,346.35 from 05/21/2024 to 08/18/2026. One order was open on 08/31/2026, the July 2026 transport invoice for 1,056.00.

This project classifies 354,916.49 of that as conforming. It is the treatment stays, the transport to treatment, and the outreach program's pay, phone and supplies while the program ran. The 25,000.00 Code Blue donation is non-conforming. The 429.86 of phone bills paid from 07/01/2025 on is unverified. The FY2026 report says the outreach program has ended, and no program using the line since is documented.

What the City told the State

FY2023

The FY2023 report says the City received 87,441.97 and spent 0.00 through 06/30/2023. It says an internal committee first met on 06/29/2023 to review where the money could go. The account made its first payment on 05/21/2024. Report and books agree.

FY2024

The FY2024 report certifies 174,432.24 received and 627.13 spent between 07/01/2023 and 06/30/2024. It lists one program, Recovery Outreach Ambassadors, under Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It describes City EMTs who, outside their scheduled shifts, reach out to EMS patients and homeless residents with substance use and mental health needs and help them toward treatment. The 627.13 is a phone case and charger, the first outreach payroll and the first bill for the program's phone line. It ties to the cent.

FY2025

The FY2025 report certifies 102,169.27 received and 106,085.36 spent between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025. It lists a new program, Recovery Centers of America, under Treatment, at 102,250.00 spent. The City pays for the treatment stay of a resident who has worked with an outreach ambassador and cannot afford treatment. The report counts 14 participants. Check 277 for 90,000.00 on 03/04/2025 and check 293 for 12,250.00 on 04/01/2025 make the figure. The outreach program update certifies 3,835.36, which is eight payroll postings, twelve phone bills and the business cards. It reports 59 participants and 5 referrals to treatment. Every figure ties, including the 257,330.99 certified as unspent. FY2024 and FY2025 spending matches the ledger to the cent.

FY2026

The State published the City's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 69,251.53 received, 272,594.46 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 181,715.94 on hand. The spent total equals what the account paid in the year to the cent. It reports three programs.

• A new program with All For You Medical Transportation, 11,976.00, under Treatment. Ten monthly transport invoices make the figure to the cent. Transport program ties to ten monthly invoices.
• An update to Recovery Centers of America, 260,618.46, with 7 participants.
• An update to Recovery Outreach Ambassadors, 0.00. The report says the program has ended.

What the records show

A Code Blue donation and phone bills counted as treatment

The FY2026 figure for Recovery Centers of America is every payment the account made in the year except the transport invoices. Recovery Centers of America received 235,250.00 of it. The other 25,368.46 went to Tri-County Community Action and T-Mobile. The ledger describes the Tri-County payment as "Code Blue Donation - Opioid." The phone line served the outreach ambassadors, a program the same report says has ended. Neither payment is a treatment stay. Certified a Code Blue donation and phone bills as treatment.

Code Blue was paid from other accounts before

The City has paid Tri-County Community Action for Code Blue every season since 2020-21.

The County's Code Blue receipts total 175,000.01, the same as the four County grant accounts paid out. No County receipt matches the settlement payment. The 2024 grant paid two installments of 25,000.00. The 2025 grant has paid one, on 02/17/2026. The settlement account paid 25,000.00 fourteen days later. On 04/24/2026 the City opened a second 25,000.00 Code Blue line on the 2025 County grant account and deleted it the same day. On 06/30/2026 the budget set up the 2025 grant at 25,000.00, against 50,000.00 for the 2024 grant.

That the settlement money took over an installment another source used to carry is this project's inference from these records. The FY2026 report does not name Code Blue at all. Paid 25,000.00 for Code Blue, funded elsewhere since 2021.

A budget balance certified as money on hand

The 181,715.94 is the settlement account's budget balance. On 06/30/2026 an entry labeled "2026 Bud Grant Setup" raised the account's appropriation from 422,601.87 to 561,022.89. The audit trail prints 181,715.94 as the balance after it. An appropriation is authority to spend, not money in hand. The 561,022.89 is 127,727.88 more than the City reports it has received. Certified a budget balance as 181,715.94 on hand.

How this project reads the record

How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.