Camden City
Camden City spent 150,000.00 of its opioid settlement money on a street light inventory, told the State it was overdose harm reduction, and has misstated its receipts, its spending and its balance on hand.
Published 10/03/2026 · Updated 10/04/2026
TLDR
- Camden City has spent one thing from its opioid settlement account. It paid Hopeworks 'n Camden 150,000.00 to walk ten neighborhoods and map every street light.
- The FY2025 report calls it a Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention program to "reduce opioid use," with 1,000 clients a year.
- The contract and the bid never mention opioids. No light was fixed or added.
- The City paid the same vendor for a lamp post audit of Whitman Park in 2022, from its own budget.
- Two reports certify 174,142.50 for the 150,000.00 order.
- The FY2025 report repeats the prior year's receipts and gives a 2022 revenue total as cash on hand.
- The FY2026 report gives more cash on hand than the account had received by the end of its period.
The account took in 3,459,466.72 through 06/30/2026. A street light map is all it has bought.
Summary
Camden City, Camden County, booked 3,459,466.72 of opioid settlement revenue to account G-02-XX-700-230, National Opioid Settlement Fund, from the account's opening through 06/30/2026. Four more receipts on 07/24/2026 brought it to 3,923,014.52. The national settlements list uses for the money, among them treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction. The list is not exhaustive. Other documented, evidence-based programs that address the epidemic also qualify. In either case the money must add to local spending, not replace it.
The account has paid out 150,000.00, all of it to Hopeworks 'n Camden on purchase order 24-05983, between 12/23/2024 and 09/19/2025. No other payment has ever left the account. This project classifies the full 150,000.00 as non-conforming. Nothing is classified conforming or unverified. Read the City's findings.
What the money bought
Purchase order 24-05983, dated 11/15/2024, buys "citywide data collection of street lights in 10 neighborhoods" at 15,000.00 a neighborhood. It ships to the Department of Public Works.
Contract 08-24-056, dated 10/22/2024, follows Bid 24-04, Street Light Inventory (Data Collection). Its scope is a walking audit of lamp posts, a report locating and rating each one, a GIS map residents can use to report a dark light, and a data field to tie each light to its PSE&G billing meter. The bid says the inventory "will also provide a baseline for future LED projects." Neither document mentions opioids, overdose or substance use.
Hopeworks billed by the month for hours. Its report for the period ending 08/31/2025 says it "completed the streetlight mapping project" and delivered a dashboard that maps each street light in the city. The April 2025 report counts 8,012 street lights located.
| Check | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 146230 | 12/23/2024 | 4,460.00 |
| 146647 | 02/18/2025 | 38,430.00 |
| 146963 | 03/28/2025 | 13,945.00 |
| 147031 | 04/04/2025 | 15,245.00 |
| 147087 | 04/11/2025 | 18,800.00 |
| 147425 | 05/23/2025 | 15,850.00 |
| 147562 | 06/13/2025 | 17,127.50 |
| 148318 | 08/01/2025 | 9,480.00 |
| 148395 | 08/08/2025 | 15,130.00 |
| 148772 | 09/19/2025 | 1,532.50 |
| Total | 150,000.00 |
Check 146647 pays two invoices, 18,015.00 and 20,415.00, so the ledger carries eleven lines for ten checks.
What the City told the State
The FY2025 report lists one program, Street Lighting Inventory, recipient Hopeworks, funded at 150,000.00. It files it under Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It describes it as "Improve lighting in neighborhoods to reduce opioid use." It names individuals who use drugs and people experiencing homelessness as the target population. It expects 1,000 clients a year. It says the City will track overdoses and police and fire calls for service every month.
The City's own Grant Summary Form, filed with the April and July 2025 payment vouchers, describes the same work. It says the data collection "would indirectly support efforts to combat opioid addiction." It says "it is not clear when and if there will be a phase two." No light was repaired or added with the money, and no overdose program using the inventory is documented. A street light inventory is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Certified a street light count as overdose harm reduction.
The same work, before and after
On 03/30/2022 the City ordered a "lamp post audit of Whitman Park" from Hopeworks for 12,162.00. The order covers a three person data collection team, a web app for community data collection, and data analysis. The City paid it from its current fund Professional Services line.
Whitman Park is one of the ten neighborhoods on purchase order 24-05983. In 2026, after the settlement order was paid out, the City paid Hopeworks 19,750.00 for a "Phase 1 core property count," half from Professional Services and half from a recycling grant. In 2018 the Council rescinded a 197,068.61 contract with another firm for a street light inventory and management system.
The FY2025 report says the City funded a new program. The 2022 and 2026 orders were paid from local money. Neither the books nor the vendor history show the settlement order's cost paid from another fund before, so this project publishes these as facts and not as a finding.
Spending reported by year
| Report | Certified spent | Paid in the period |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023, to 06/30/2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2024, 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2025, 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 | 148,000.00 | 123,857.50 |
| FY2026, 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026 | 26,142.50 | 26,142.50 |
| Total | 174,142.50 | 150,000.00 |
The FY2023 and FY2024 reports are right. Nothing left the account before 12/23/2024.
The FY2025 figure of 148,000.00 is 24,142.50 more than the account paid in the year. It matches no invoice and no check. The same report certifies 0.00 encumbered, while 26,142.50 of the order was still unpaid at 06/30/2025. Certified 148,000.00 spent when FY2025 paid 123,857.50.
The FY2026 figure ties to the cent. It is the last three checks on the order. The report says the money paid outstanding invoices for the existing program, and that the program has ended. Read together, the two reports certify 174,142.50 for an order of 150,000.00. Two reports certify 174,142.50 for a 150,000.00 order.
Money received and money on hand
The FY2023 report gives 698,144.70 received through 06/30/2023. The FY2024 report gives 1,351,511.59 received in its year and 2,049,656.29 since 2022. The revenue ledger matches all three to the cent.
The FY2025 report gives 1,351,511.59 received in its year again, and 3,401,167.88 since 2022. That is the FY2024 figure added a second time. The ledger shows 815,728.75 received between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025. Both FY2025 figures are 535,782.84 too high. Reported FY2024 receipts again as FY2025 receipts.
The FY2024 and FY2025 reports both give 549,274.34 as unspent funds on hand. On the FY2025 page that leaves 2,703,893.54 of the City's own figures unaccounted for. The revenue ledger prints 549,274.34 as its running total on 07/03/2023, after journals for settlement money received through 12/30/2022. Reported a 2022 revenue total as cash on hand, twice.
FY2026
The State published the City's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It gives 552,910.46 received in the year, which matches the seven receipts in the ledger. It gives 26,142.50 spent, which matches the books. Its cumulative receipts, 3,954,078.34, carry the FY2025 overstatement forward. The ledger's revenue total at 06/30/2026 is 3,459,466.72.
It gives 3,773,014.52 on hand. The report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. Through 06/30/2026 the account received 3,459,466.72 and held 3,309,466.72 after the 150,000.00 paid. The certified figure is above every dollar received through the end of the period. It is the ledger total after four receipts of 07/24/2026, 3,923,014.52, less the 150,000.00 paid. Those four receipts total 463,547.80. The report's received figure leaves them out and its on hand figure counts them. The report was last updated 08/19/2026. Reported more on hand than it received through 06/30/2026.
The report says the City is "currently working on a plan to spend settlement funds." At its filing the account held more than 3.7 million dollars of settlement revenue, and it had funded no treatment, recovery, prevention or harm reduction program.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.