Clark Township
Clark Township told the State it spent 7,650.00 of opioid settlement money in FY2025 while its account paid 33,317.80, never reported 12,202.00 of giveaways as spent, and certified AED supplies as overdose harm reduction in FY2026.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Clark Township's FY2025 report told the State it spent 7,650.00 of its opioid settlement money that year. Its settlement account paid 33,317.80.
- The 25,667.80 left out includes 12,698.00 of tee shirts, popsocket grips, stress balls and other giveaways with their shipping, and 7,933.92 in five expenditures with no vendor or description.
- The FY2024 report showed the giveaways as an encumbrance. No report has ever counted them as spent.
- The FY2026 report certifies an AED kit and medical supplies, 2,992.80, as Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It reports 0 people served.
- On the day the Township ordered those supplies, it charged the same vendor's companion quote to its police medical supplies line.
- One payment, 7,650.00 for a police course on opioid use disorder, ties to a use Exhibit E lists.
Three reports out of four tie to the books. The one that does not left out more than three times what it reported.
Summary
Clark Township, Union County, reports receiving 88,739.74 in opioid settlement money 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 listed uses cover treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction.
The Township's settlement account, G-01-41-770-329, carried on the grant ledger as G-02-41-877-001, paid 44,964.26 net from 04/26/2024 to 08/06/2026. Its first payment was a CPR class. Most of the rest bought giveaway merchandise, medical and defibrillator supplies, police training and five expenditures the ledger does not describe.
This project classifies 7,650.00 of that spending as conforming, the police course the FY2025 report names. It classifies 21,871.45 as non-conforming. It classifies 15,442.81 as unverified, because the record does not settle what those payments bought. Read the Township's findings.
What the Township told the State
The Township files a report with the Department of Human Services each year. The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30.
| Report | Certified spent | Paid from the account |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2024 | 5,334.46 | 5,334.46 |
| FY2025 | 7,650.00 | 33,317.80 |
| FY2026 | 2,992.80 | 2,992.80 |
| Total | 15,977.26 | 41,645.06 |
- FY2023. The report lists one program, Opioids Initiative, and says it "hasn't started yet." No money had left the account.
- FY2024. The report certifies 5,334.46 spent on a program named Training/Education, filed as Primary Prevention, Education, and Training. The nine payments of the year make the figure to the cent. They are a CPR class at 1,320.00, DARE officer training at 1,900.00, an HP Envy laptop with a remote, cables and shipping at 1,175.31, V.E. Ralph medical supplies at 929.20 and a 9.95 charge the Township later moved to another grant. The program's launch date, 4/26/2024, is the date of the CPR check. The report also certifies 12,202.00 encumbered.
- FY2025. The report certifies 7,650.00 spent, a ZSchool course for police officers, and 11,700.00 appropriated or encumbered. The account paid 33,317.80.
- FY2026. The report certifies 2,992.80 spent on a program named Acquisition of Medical Supplies, filed as Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention, and 619.20 encumbered. Both figures tie to the books.
What the FY2025 report left out
The FY2025 report covers 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. It certifies 7,650.00 spent and lists one new program, Operational Readiness for Police Officers, at the same figure. It updates the 2024 Training/Education program at 0.00. The ledger shows 39 payments in that period and one 9.95 credit.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Giveaway merchandise and its shipping, A&B Promotions and Creative Product Sourcing | 12,698.00 |
| Five expenditures with no vendor or description | 7,933.92 |
| V.E. Ralph and Lifesavers medical and AED supplies | 2,941.45 |
| QuickSeries orders | 2,104.38 |
| Credit moving a Project Graduation charge to another grant | -9.95 |
| Left out of the report | 25,667.80 |
| ZSchool course, check 36895, 01/27/2025 | 7,650.00 |
| Paid in the period | 33,317.80 |
The five expenditures carry references 3905, 3910, 3919, 3924 and 3928 and run from 12/13/2024 to 02/14/2025. No record produced shows what they paid for. No report counts any of the 25,667.80 as spent. The FY2024 report lists 12,202.00 of it, the giveaways, only as encumbered. Certified 7,650.00 of the 33,317.80 it spent in FY2025.
The 7,650.00 that was reported is the one payment this project classifies as conforming. The FY2025 report names the course, Operational Readiness for Police Officers, Practical Strategies for Addressing Opioid Use Disorder and Co-occurring Conditions, and says 17 officers attended. Training police on the needs of people with opioid use disorder is a use Exhibit E lists.
The giveaways
On 06/25/2024 the Township opened two orders on the settlement account.
| Order | Vendor | Items | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-01766 | A&B Promotions | Drawstring bags, aluminum sports bottles, flash drives, stress balls | 2,281.50 |
| 24-01765 | Creative Product Sourcing | Tee shirts 4,410.00, popsocket grips 4,800.00, wireless chargers, a commuter brief, a journal, DARE graduation certificates, a collectors coin | 9,920.50 |
| Total | 12,202.00 |
The ledger shows no other order open on 06/30/2024. The FY2024 report certifies 12,202.00 encumbered, the two orders to the cent. Check 35954 paid the first on 08/12/2024 and check 36072 paid the second on 08/28/2024. A 496.00 shipping charge followed on 10/28/2024.
The FY2025 report counts only the ZSchool course as spent and reports 0.00 for the Training/Education program. The FY2026 report counts the AED supplies. The merchandise appears in no report as money spent. Paid 12,202.00 for giveaways and never reported it spent.
No prevention program that uses the items is documented. Giveaway merchandise is not among the uses Exhibit E lists.
FY2026: AED supplies certified as harm reduction
The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It lists one program, Acquisition of Medical Supplies, funded at 3,612.00. It names no recipient. It files the program as Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention and describes it as the purchase of "essential medical supplies, including Defib AED pads and related equipment." It reports 0 individuals served.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lifesavers, AED kit, check 38399, 10/23/2025 | 1,195.00 |
| V.E. Ralph, quote 114600 medical supplies, check 38625, 11/20/2025 | 1,797.80 |
| Certified spent | 2,992.80 |
| V.E. Ralph, Defibtech AED pads, open 06/30/2026, paid 07/10/2026 | 619.20 |
| Certified encumbered | 619.20 |
The report's funding and launch date, 10/23/2025, is the date of the Lifesavers check. Both orders were placed on 10/01/2025. The same day the Township charged V.E. Ralph's companion quote 114599, 677.86, to its Police: Medical Supplies line. That line has bought from V.E. Ralph every year from 2019 to 2025, pediatric AED pads three times in 2024.
Exhibit E's harm reduction category names naloxone and other drugs that treat overdoses. No listed use covers defibrillator supplies, and no overdose program using this equipment is documented. Certified AED pads and a kit as overdose harm reduction.
Costs other lines carried
The Township's vendor histories, printed 08/28/2026, show the settlement account paying vendors and costs that other Township accounts paid before.
| Vendor | Before | On the settlement account |
|---|---|---|
| DARE Advocacy | D.A.R.E. tuition, Police: Training & Education, 01/26/2023 | DARE officer training, 1,900.00, 05/13/2024 |
| Matthew Butterly | CPR classes, Fire: Training & Education, 2020 and 2022 | CPR class, 1,320.00, 04/26/2024 |
| A&B Promotions | Quote 2774, 932.00, two police lines, 07/26/2023 | Giveaways, 2,281.50, 08/12/2024 |
| Creative Product Sourcing | DARE items and supplies, Police: Youth Aid Bureau and Municipal Alliance grants, from 2018 | Giveaways and shipping, 10,416.50, 2024 |
| V.E. Ralph and Lifesavers | Medical and defibrillator supplies, Police: Medical Supplies, from 2019 | Medical and defibrillator supplies, 5,953.45, 08/2024 to 07/2026 |
Three checks were split across both accounts. Checks 36029, 36245 and 36983 each paid one V.E. Ralph order from the settlement account and another from Police: Medical Supplies. The Municipal Alliance grant kept buying DARE items from Creative Product Sourcing in 2025 and 2026.
The records do not show the police and fire budgets for these years. That the settlement money replaced spending those lines would otherwise have carried is this project's inference from these records. N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f) requires the money to supplement local spending, not supplant it. Charged the fund for costs police and fire lines carried.
What the record does not show
- What the five expenditures of 12/13/2024 to 02/14/2025, 7,933.92 in all, paid for.
- What the QuickSeries orders bought. Their descriptions are cut off.
- What three V.E. Ralph lines bought, including 929.20 described as Opiods Medical.
- What course ZSchool invoice 10144 covers. Check 8 paid it 2,700.00 on 08/06/2026, after the FY2026 period closed.
- What the FY2025 report's 11,700.00 appropriated or encumbered counts.
What should happen
The account has paid 21,871.45 to vendors and for costs that other Township accounts paid before, with no documented abatement program behind them. 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.