Cinnaminson Township

Summary

Cinnaminson Township, Burlington County, State ID NJ31, reported receiving 139,927.51 in opioid settlement money 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 Township holds the money on one budget line, G-02-41-170-200, which it titles National Opiod Settlement. Its appropriation rose from 107,268.74 to 137,798.56 on 05/18/2026. Through 08/31/2026 the line paid 36,891.90 and took back 1,000.00, a net of 35,891.90, and its balance stood at 101,906.66. The first charge posted on 07/17/2024. Nothing from the line has gone to treatment, recovery support, naloxone, a treatment provider or a school.

The Township's reports describe a school prevention program and an officer wellness program. Its ledger shows event and giveaway costs that its own budget lines carried before the settlement line took them, and wellness visits that a wellness grant and, once, the police budget paid before 2026. Read the Township's findings.

What the Township received

The FY2024 to FY2026 reports each list 0.00 of interest. The Township did not produce the revenue account that records its receipts.

What it spent, and on what

The FY2026 figure is 14,842.07 of payments less the 1,000.00 credit of 05/31/2026.

This project classifies 27,532.40 of the payments as non-conforming and 8,359.50 as unverified. The unverified part is two orders of Say no to Drugs trinkets and the psychologist's visits. Prevention messaging can be a listed use, and the record does not show where the trinkets were handed out. The psychologist's visits are a kind of use Exhibit E lists, wellness services for first responders. A wellness grant paid most of the earlier visits, and the record does not show whether it ended, so whether the settlement money replaced local spending is not shown. No payment is documented as conforming.

What the Township told the State each year

The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30.

FY2023 and FY2024 tie to the books. No money left the line before 07/17/2024. The 5,489.25 that FY2024 lists as encumbered was a real order, purchase order 24-00930 for Adopt-a-Cop and Pirate Day tee shirts, open on 06/30/2024 and paid by check 36995 on 07/17/2024.

FY2025 certifies 18,649.48 against 18,649.83 in the books, 0.35 less. FY2026 certifies 9,042.15 against 13,842.07 in the books. The sections below take each year in turn.

The FY2025 school prevention program

The FY2025 report certifies one program, the School Prevention Program, funded on 07/01/2024 at 18,649.48 and fully spent. It describes students from first grade through senior year who "interact with their local police officers throughout their school experience and are taught prevention methods and risk of opioids and substance abuse." It says school district employees also receive substance awareness training. It reports 2,950 participants and 300 training or education sessions.

The settlement line paid 18,649.83 in the year, on thirteen lines.

Nothing was paid to a school district, an instructor or a curriculum. No record in hand supports the 2,950 participants or the 300 sessions. FY2025 school program was tees, candy and inflatables.

The same report answers Yes when asked whether the Township funded any new program in the year. Its program block then gives a launch date of 07/03/2017 and says "the program has been coordinated for approximately eight years."

The FY2026 report

The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026 and certifies 9,042.15 spent. That is the sum of its two program figures, 2,000.00 for a new Officer Wellness Program and 7,042.15 for the School Prevention Program.

The spending total

The certified figure is every movement on the line in the year except one purchase. The batteries were ordered on 07/01/2025, the first day of the year, so no earlier report could carry them, and neither FY2026 program names them. The same check paid a second Bound Tree order, 3,406.44 of medical supplies, from the police Emergency and Safety Supplies line. The Township bought AED batteries in 2023 for 9,263.76, spread across six current fund lines, and bought AED pads from current fund lines in 11/2023 and 04/2026. AED batteries are not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no overdose program using them is documented. Left 4,799.92 of AED batteries out of its FY2026 report.

The School Prevention Program update

The update certifies 7,042.15 and repeats the 2,950 participants and 300 sessions. It says the Township gives out pamphlets at every community event and works on alcohol and drug abuse prevention with first, third, fifth and 11th grade students.

The credit takes back the band payment of 05/13/2025, which the FY2025 report had already certified. The Township moved that charge to its Reserve for Police Donations trust. The trinkets fit the report's account of materials handed out at events. A Pirate Day payment to Bette's Bounces and tee shirts reimbursed to the police association do not describe a school prevention program. School Prevention paid for trinkets, Pirate Day and tees.

The Officer Wellness Program

The report lists a new Officer Wellness Program, funded on 5/19/2026 at 10,000.00, with 2,000.00 spent and 33 individuals served. It dates the program's launch to 8/3/2020. It describes an annual mandatory session with a board-certified police psychologist. Check 39660 of 05/19/2026 paid the psychologist 2,000.00 from the settlement line, three EAP visits of 200.00 and yearly wellness visits of 1,400.00. The four lines make the certified figure to the cent.

The same psychologist's wellness and EAP visits were paid from the Township's Police-LEMHWA (Wellness Act) grant account on eleven lines from 12/20/2023 to 05/06/2025, 13,600.00 in all. The police Medical Expenses line paid one more EAP visit on 07/22/2025 and a pre-employment evaluation on 03/17/2026. The Township's memorandum of understanding with her, with fees for calendar year 2024, sets wellness visits at 200.00 per session. On 07/21/2026 the settlement line paid her another 3,400.00. Wellness services for first responders are among the uses Exhibit E lists. The settlement money has to add to local spending. Most of the earlier visits were grant funded, and the record does not show whether the grant ended. That the settlement money took over a cost the Township would otherwise carry is this project's inference. Moved police psychologist visits onto the fund.

The Township's own budget paid for these first

The Township's Community Policing appropriation was adopted at 21,000.00 in every year from 2019 to 2026. Its ledger, its recreation lines and its vendor histories show the same events and items on those lines before the settlement line took them.

• Adopt-A-Cop tee shirts. Community Policing paid the Cinnaminson Police Association 2,516.00 for 2023 Adopt A Cop T-Shirts on 07/18/2023, after an order for the same amount to JP TEE'S, INC was voided. The settlement line then paid the Association 5,489.25 in 2024, 3,015.50 in 2025 and 3,364.25 in 2026, 11,869.00 in all.
• Pirate Day. Community Policing paid a 2,831.25 Pirate Day deposit in 2020, 3,338.43 to Bette's Bounces for the Pirate event in 2022 and 2,956.00 for Pirate Day games in 2024. The settlement line paid Bette's Bounces for Pirate Day in 2025 and 2026, 4,331.60. In those same two years Community Policing paid Bette's Bounces 7,576.40 for National Night Out and fall attractions in 2025 and 4,736.60 for National Night Out in 2026.
• Giveaways. Community Policing bought coloring books, crayon packs, mood pencils and gel pens in 2023 and pamphlets in 2024. In 2025 the settlement line paid 5,417.43 for orders described as Community Policing pens, brochures, supplies and water guns. The Municipal Alliance grant bought drug and alcohol warning guides from Positive Promotions in 2018.
• Trunk or Treat. The event was paid from its own Trunk or Treat line in 2019 and 2023 and from the Recreation Programs and Cinnaminson Day lines in 2022. In 2024 the settlement line paid 1,114.45 for its candy and pizza. In 2025 the event went back to Community Policing and Recreation Programs.
• The band. The Band Concerts line paid the same performer in 2019 to 2022, in 2024 and again in 2026. The one settlement charge, 1,000.00 on 05/13/2025, was credited back on 05/31/2026 and charged to the Reserve for Police Donations trust.

On 11/12/2024, the year the settlement line first paid for the tee shirts, the Township moved the last 5,251.60 of the 2024 Community Policing line out with the memo "move to uniforms." The FY2026 report says the School Prevention Program "will be funded every year with the budget and opioid funds." Moved event and giveaway costs from its budget to the fund.

What the records do not show yet

• The 2026 detail of the recreation and community event lines. It was requested and not produced.
• Any agreement with the psychologist other than the fee schedule for calendar year 2024.
• Any record of the 2,950 participants, the 300 sessions or a school taking part.
• The revenue account that records the settlement receipts.
• The journal backup for the 11/12/2024 move to uniforms and for the 05/31/2026 band credit.

What should happen

The settlement line paid 27,532.40 for tee shirts, Pirate Day, event food, giveaways and AED batteries, net of the band credit. Nearly all of it bought what the Township's own budget had paid for before. That includes 4,799.92 of AED batteries that no report discloses. The Township can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program.

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.