Burlington County

Summary

Burlington County reports 10,425,295.00 in opioid settlement money and interest received 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 keeps the money in a parent account, G-15-22-042-00-275-10000, and moves it by resolution into thirteen program sub-accounts. Through 06/30/2026 it moved 2,493,000.89. Through 08/31/2026 the accounts paid out 1,343,397.04.

This project classifies that spending as follows.

Conforming spending is spending an order or invoice ties to opioid content. It is the Maryville placements on the order that reads SERVICES FUNDING OPIOID, the NarcanBox cabinets for high schools, one NaloxBox and the strategic plan by Montclair State University.

The non-conforming spending is the nurse contract, the two salaries and the NJTIP placements that other money paid before. It also covers clothing, refreshments, promotional materials and senior transport. The unverified spending is mostly the Hope One outreach van. It also holds the earlier Maryville placements, the care packages and the camp itself. The county's reports describe these, but no order, invoice or contract produced shows their content. Read the county's findings.

What the county told the State

Every year ties. Every program amount in the FY2025 and FY2026 reports ties to its sub-account to the cent as well. The county reports what it spent. The questions are what the money paid for, how the reports describe it, and what the reports say is committed and on hand.

Opioid Emergency Funding

The FY2024 report lists Opioid Emergency Funding as a new program, 50,000.00, to provide sober living funding for people in treatment for opioid use disorder. The FY2025 report certifies 3,988.61 spent on it with no change to the program. The FY2026 report certifies 1,403.67 and 0 services.

Its account, G-15-22-042-00-275-00008, paid no sober living placement. It paid Smart Stitch 2,053.20 for uniform apparel and protective clothing on 02/24/2025. It paid McKesson Medical-Surgical 3,339.08 for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, net of two credits. The two certified figures, 5,392.28, are those payments to the cent. Sober living placements were paid from a different account. Sober living program paid for apparel and medical supplies.

The youth program

The county's payroll register shows the Hope One youth coordinator paid every two weeks from 01/05/2023. The pay was charged to grant codes, then from 08/17/2023 to the county grant suspense code. It is still charged there through 08/27/2026.

The FY2025 report answers Yes to funding new programs and lists Salary for Hope One Youth Program as one, launched 01/01/2025. The same block says the program had reached more than 10,000 participants "since its inception." The FY2026 report says the Hope One for Youth debuted in April 2024. The launch date in the FY2025 report is the start of the settlement repayments. The 26,810.88 it certifies is the first eleven repayments and a 26.00 nameplate order, to the cent. Reported a youth program running since 2024 as new in 2025.

The encumbered figures

Each report asks what was appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent in the year. Each answer is the money moved into the program sub-accounts since 2023, less what those accounts paid, to the cent.

The FY2025 program pages list one encumbrance, 15,000.00, for three town subawards. The books show those three orders. The rest of the 1,599,338.00 is allocations never committed. The county's own ledger print of 05/29/2026 shows 544,230.25 encumbered across every opioid account, against 1,221,491.98 certified for the year to 06/30/2026.

• Encumbered 1,599,338.00 but its programs list 15,000.00
• Encumbered 679,379.68 but its programs list 73,357.20
• Encumbered figure is every unspent allocation since 2023

The unspent balance

The county's received figures count interest. FY2024's 5,844,364.19 is FY2023's total plus that year's receipts and its 185,205.33 of interest, to the cent. FY2026's 10,425,295.00 builds the same way.

The unspent figures do not. The FY2026 report's numbers work out like this.

The missing figure is the three years of interest the reports certify, 185,205.33, 330,859.06 and 337,095.79. The unspent figure is the received total less the money moved to the sub-accounts, less what the parent account spent, less every dollar of interest. Either the fund does not hold the interest the received figure counts, or the unspent figure leaves it out. Unspent figure leaves out 853,160.18 of reported interest.

The FY2024 report is built the same way and misses by its year's interest, 185,205.33. Unspent figure leaves out 185,205.33 of reported interest.

The FY2025 report misses by 517,153.39. That is two years of interest, 516,064.39, plus 1,089.00. Its received total is 1,089.00 more than its own receipts and interest added to the FY2024 total. Unspent figure misses its own totals by 517,153.39.

The ARCH nurse

Virtua Home Care has billed the county for an ARCH nurse every month since 2018. The county's Virtua payment history shows who paid.

Check 148709, dated 05/20/2024, shows the change on one check. It pays the January and February 2024 invoices in full from the current fund. It pays the March and April 2024 invoices 9,169.65 from settlement account G-15-22-042-00-275-00006 and 3,056.55 from the current fund. The February and March invoices are the same 12,226.20.

Through 08/10/2026 the settlement account has paid Virtua 264,986.55. The FY2024 report lists the nurse among its 2024 programs, launched 02/28/2024, the day the resolution funded the account. The same report says the nurse services are part of an existing Virtua contract.

The current fund line was not cut. Its budget was 908,300.00 in 2023 and 1,375,000.00 in 2026. The record still shows a service grants and county money paid for six years, and settlement money paying three quarters of it from March 2024. Settlement took over a nurse contract running since 2018.

The clinician

The county's payroll register shows one part time mental health clinician paid every two weeks from 01/05/2023 to 08/27/2026, with no gap.

The settlement account's first charge repays the 03/28/2024 payroll, 2,029.19, to the county's state fund. The register charges that payroll to the grant suspense code. Through 08/27/2026 the account has carried 158,860.27 of the clinician's wages, taxes and payroll repayments. Moved a clinician already on payroll onto settlement money.

The youth coordinator's pay

The settlement account for the youth program does not carry the coordinator's pay. It repays it. Each line sends one payroll back to the county's state fund. The first lines read "PAYROLL 01.02.25 OPIOID SETTLE." The first repayment, 2,384.60, is the register's 01/02/2025 payroll to the cent. Through 07/14/2026 the account has repaid 99,170.50. Settlement repays a salary still on a county grant code.

NJTIP sober living

The county's NJTIP payment history shows sober living placements paid from state alcohol and drug grant lines from 2020, most at 650.00 a placement. The last grant payment is check 154587 on 02/07/2025, on the 2024 grant line. No 2025 or 2026 grant line pays NJTIP. From 01/27/2026 settlement account G-15-22-042-00-275-00003 pays NJTIP for the same service at the same 650.00, 17,550.00 through 06/23/2026. Settlement took over sober living a state grant paid for.

The nurse contract, the two salaries and the NJTIP placements total 540,567.32 on the settlement account. Section D(7) of the agreement between the State and its towns requires settlement money to supplement local spending and not supplant it.

Camp Cardinal purchases

The county reports Camp Cardinal Youth Camp to the State each year. The camp account also paid for these.

Each is counted in a certified spent figure. None is among the uses Exhibit E lists. Camp program paid for clothing, pizza and promotional items.

What is unverified

The Hope One van is the largest item. Purchase order 24-06682 to Robert H Hoover and Sons paid 535,412.00 in two checks, 267,740.00 on 03/24/2025 and 267,672.00 on 10/20/2025. Each matches the van figure in its year's report to the cent. A vehicle for a real mobile outreach program can fit the mobile harm reduction uses Exhibit E lists. The county's records also show Hope One staffed through a state grant line since 12/2019, and a 538,730.00 mobile medical unit the Health Department bought from the same dealer in 2024 with a state grant and an ARPA vehicle reserve. No record shows the settlement paying a cost another fund paid before.

The county has paid or committed 5,000.00 each to six towns for prevention programs. Two were paid, to Medford Lakes and Evesham. One recipient of record is Westampton Recreation. No agreement and no record of what any town did with the money was produced.

What should happen

The county can return 540,567.32 to the settlement fund and pay the nurse contract, the two positions and the NJTIP placements from the money that paid them before.

The FY2026 report's own figures leave 853,160.18 unaccounted for. The county can show where the interest is, and what the 1,221,491.98 it certified as encumbered was committed to.

The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller rely on these reports. They should examine the salary charges, the launch dates, the encumbered figures and what the sober living fund bought.

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