Camden County
Camden County paid its marketing agency 1,139,772.27 from its opioid settlement account, reported the same Right Path spending in two fiscal years, and reported a 150,000.00 legal services order to a Commissioner's nonprofit as 0.00.
Published 09/25/2026 · Updated 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Camden County told the State it had spent 1,909,749.10 of settlement money by 06/30/2023. Its own account listings show 471,909.22 posted by then.
- The opioid accounts paid Spark Creative Group, the County's marketing agency, 1,139,772.27. The contract the County produced is priced at 76,000.00 a year, later 82,000.00, for general County marketing.
- The County reported the same 38,858.26 of Right Path spending in FY2024 and again in FY2025.
- It reported 0.00 committed to Volunteer UP Legal Clinic while a 150,000.00 order to Volunteer UP sat inside its own committed total. The Commissioner who abstained on that award is listed as an officer of Volunteer UP, with a chair title, on its 2024 tax return.
- Seven treatment and prevention programs tie to provider payments to the cent. Those figures match the books.
- The FY2026 report adds three provider programs and reports 0.00 committed on each, while their orders had 157,331.26 open and the report's own committed total counts them.
Summary
Camden County reported receiving 12,493,217.93 in opioid settlement money, interest included, through 06/30/2025. The money may be spent only on opioid remediation. Exhibit E of the national settlements lists uses in treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction. The list is not closed, but a use it does not name needs a documented, evidence-based program. The money must add to local spending, not replace it.
The County carries the money in fund 020, account range 020-8007. Its Account Activity Listings, prepared 08/31/2026, show 4,521,410.54 expended from those accounts from 2023 through accounting period 08/2026 and 1,482,009.98 still committed. Of the spending, 2,820,932.88 went to providers and supplies this project classifies as conforming, among them Center for Family Services, Oaks Integrated Care, Cooper Health, The Work Group, Genesis Counseling Center and Maryville. The other 1,700,477.66 is unverified. It includes Spark, County payroll journaled onto the accounts, salary reimbursements to the Camden County Improvement Authority, event catering and entertainment, and Volunteer UP. None of it is shown to fall outside the uses Exhibit E lists. For most of it the County produced no invoice or no program record, so no use can be confirmed.
The County's reports to the Department of Human Services do not match its books in at least three places. The FY2025 spending total, 1,542,034.54, is also 20,982.97 more than the charges posted in the County's July 2024 to June 2025 accounting periods. This site buckets spending by transaction date. The County reports by accounting period. The yearly figures on this site therefore differ from the certified-versus-books comparisons in the findings. Read the County's findings.
What the County told the State about FY2023
The FY2023 report asks for the amount expended as of 6/30/23. The County answered 1,909,749.10. Its 2022 account listing shows no charge to any opioid account. Its 2023 listing shows 471,909.22 posted in accounting periods through 06/2023. Of that, 379,020.86 is Spark on the Advertising line.
The same report dates two Cooper Health programs, Suboxone Induction Mobile Outreach at 450,000.00 and REACH naloxone distribution at 50,000.00, to 3/1/2023. The County entered those purchase orders on 07/25/2023 and 09/11/2023, after the year closed. The first Cooper payments are dated 10/25/2023 and 10/26/2023. Told the State 1.9 million was spent. Books show 471,909.
Right Path, counted twice
The FY2024 report certifies the Right Path Initiative at 38,858.26 spent and 0.00 committed. Right Path is paid to Center for Family Services on purchase order 231820, entered for 200,000.00 on 06/14/2024. Five invoices on that order make 38,858.26 to the cent.
All five posted in the County's July and August 2024 accounting periods. Two are dated after 06/30/2024. The County's FY2024 spending total equals every charge posted July 2023 to June 2024 to the cent, and it leaves these five out. Its FY2024 committed total equals the orders open at the end of June 2024 to the cent, and it includes the full 200,000.00.
The FY2025 report certifies Right Path at 307,505.24. That figure includes the same five invoices. Reported the same 38,858.26 as spent in two fiscal years.
Spark Creative Group
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Resolution 82, annual rate, 2021 to 2024 | 76,000.00 |
| Option agreements, annual cost, 2024 to 2026 | 82,000.00 |
| Paid from the opioid accounts, 08/2022 to 07/2023 | 427,995.78 |
| Paid from the opioid accounts, 08/2024 to 07/2025 | 457,969.50 |
| Paid from the opioid accounts, all years through 08/2026 | 1,139,772.27 |
Resolution 82 awards Spark marketing consulting for the County and its agencies, run by the Department of Events and Community Outreach. The option agreements bar work beyond the scope unless the Board authorizes a written amendment by resolution. No amendment was produced. None of the resolutions or agreements names settlement money.
The reports name two media programs. The FY2023 report lists the Fentanyl is Fatal campaign at 336,163.25 of funding. The FY2025 report lists an Anti-Stigma Campaign at 388,241.77, with the County's own events office as recipient and procurement answered n/a. Spark charges in the FY2025 periods were 453,155.70.
The County produced four Spark invoices, 12,083.02 of test kit and NaloxBox work for the Health Department. This project counts that work as conforming. It produced no invoice for the other 1,127,689.25. Media campaigns against opioid misuse are a listed use. General County marketing is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Without the invoices, no one outside the County can tell which one the money bought. Paid its marketing agency 1.14 million in settlement money.
Volunteer UP Legal Clinic
At the Board meeting of 04/17/2025, Commissioner Jeffrey Nash announced the Volunteer Up Legal Clinic fundraiser and asked everyone to participate. On 05/15/2025 the Board adopted Resolution 40, an agreement with Volunteer UP for legal services to the Camden County Sober Living Community. The minutes record Commissioner Nash abstaining on Resolution 40. The resolution says one response was received. It states no dollar amount.
Volunteer UP's 2024 Form 990, a public filing with the Internal Revenue Service signed 04/10/2025, lists Jeffrey L Nash Esq as an officer. On page 7 his title is printed as "CHAIR OF THE," cut off on the form, at 2.00 hours a week and no pay.
The County entered purchase order 240005 for 150,000.00 on 06/27/2025. The FY2025 report lists the program at 0.00 spent and 0.00 committed. The same report's committed total, 983,795.43, equals the orders open at the end of June 2025 to the cent, and the 150,000.00 order is one of them. The first invoice bills work dated 06/25/2025, two days before the order. Reported 0.00 on a 150,000.00 order it had already placed.
The County paid Volunteer UP 16,650.00 and cancelled the rest of the order in 08/2026. The first invoice lists a restraining order hearing, license restoration, warrants, parole questions, a traffic ticket and two expungement reviews. It does not say any client was in recovery. On 06/29/2026 the County entered a new order to Volunteer UP for 40,000.00. Legal services contract went to a Commissioner's nonprofit.
The administrative figure
The FY2024 report certifies 54,560.58 of administrative expenses, described as grant management services. Fifteen Camden County Improvement Authority charges in the same periods total 54,560.58 to the cent. The produced invoices reimburse the salary and fringe of Health Department employees. None describes the work. No agreement or position description for the charge was produced. Admin figure equals Health Department salary reimbursements.
What ties
Seven FY2025 program figures equal the provider payments in the period to the cent. They cover Right Path, shelter peer specialists, school prevention presentations, the Project SAVE navigator, crisis case management, behavioral health clearances and the Peer Led Recovery Center. Together they are 884,002.60. Seven treatment and prevention figures tie to payments.
FY2026
The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026.
| Question | Certified |
|---|---|
| Received in the period | 2,289,094.79 |
| Interest in the period | 710,878.42 |
| Received since 2022 | 15,493,191.14 |
| Expended in the period | 1,456,213.49 |
| Encumbered, not yet spent | 1,510,362.16 |
| Administrative expense | 20,387.70 |
| Unspent on hand | 10,103,732.48 |
The expended figure is the 18 program amounts plus the administrative expense. Charges to the settlement accounts are 1,118,922.78 in the County's July 2025 to June 2026 accounting periods. The largest difference is Right Path. Of its certified 481,367.21, 399,733.48 was paid from a fund 005 outside the settlement accounts. The records produced do not say what fund 005 is, so this project does not treat the difference as a finding.
Three programs are new. Their spending figures tie to the County's payments to the cent.
| Program | Recipient | Certified spent | Certified committed | Open at the end of 06/2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Buprenorphine Program | Cooper Healthcare | 99,872.33 | 0.00 | 100,127.67 |
| Women's Reentry Transitional Housing | I'm F.R.E.E. | 15,352.43 | 0.00 | 22,456.57 |
| Municipal Court Early Intervention Outreach | Genesis Counseling Centers | 6,307.48 | 0.00 | 34,747.02 |
| Total | 121,532.24 | 0.00 | 157,331.26 |
Each page reports nothing committed. The report's committed total, 1,510,362.16, counts all three open balances. The FY2025 report did the same with the Volunteer UP order. Reported 0.00 committed on 157,331.26 of open orders.
What should happen
The County can produce the Spark invoices for the 1,127,689.25 it has not shown, and restore to the fund whatever share paid for general County marketing.
It can show, without naming anyone, which Volunteer UP clients were people in recovery, and restore the payments that served no one in recovery.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 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.