Clifton
Clifton certified its FY2025 settlement spending as two training programs, but the figure it certified is every charge on the account that year, including 57,763.57 of police overtime and a police course it had not yet paid for.
Published 09/25/2026 · Updated 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Clifton's FY2025 report certifies 129,279.48 spent on two programs, a youth mental health course and a police training course.
- The City's own ledger shows 129,279.48 is every charge on the settlement account that year, to the cent. It includes 57,763.57 of Police Department overtime.
- The police course was not paid in that year. The check cleared 08/07/2025.
- The report puts the youth mental health course at 57,279.48. It cost 26,000.00.
- In FY2026 the fund paid 98,805.28 for a Fire Department chemical detector and 7,945.00 for a hazmat refresher billed as opioid identification. The FY2026 report certifies the 94,460.28 detector as a harm reduction program that served no one.
Summary
Clifton, Passaic County, reported receiving 602,641.65 in opioid settlement money through 06/30/2025. Its ledger shows 618,858.95 received in that time and 736,583.70 through 06/16/2026. The national settlements list approved abatement uses, 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. Settlement money must add to what a town already spends, not replace it.
The City's settlement account, 15-286-58-001-000, shows 370,076.35 spent from 01/01/2022 to 06/18/2026 and one open order of 6,993.00. This project classifies 146,700.00 of the spending as conforming, 182,207.07 as non-conforming, and 41,169.28 as unverified. Read the City's findings.
What the FY2025 report certified
The FY2025 report covers 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. It certifies 129,279.48 expended. It names two programs.
| Program on the report | Certified |
|---|---|
| Youth Mental Health First Aid Training | 57,279.48 |
| Operational Readiness for Police Officers | 72,000.00 |
| Total | 129,279.48 |
The account detail shows what the account actually paid in that year.
| Charge in the year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Police Department overtime | 57,763.57 |
| Youth Mental Health First Aid course | 26,000.00 |
| Cordata overdose software | 25,000.00 |
| Chris Herren presentation | 11,570.98 |
| Attorney fees | 8,262.77 |
| T-shirts, petty cash, health staff overtime | 682.16 |
| Total | 129,279.48 |
The two totals match to the cent. The programs do not. No program on the report names the police overtime, the software, the speaker or the attorney fees. The report certifies 0.00 of administrative expenses. Certified police overtime inside two training programs.
The youth mental health figure is the total less the police course. The City paid the National Council for Mental Wellbeing 26,000.00 for that course on 04/02/2025. The report describes one session for 9 health department staff in its procurement answer. The same block counts 12 training sessions. Reported 57,279.48 for a course that cost 26,000.00.
The police course
On 01/08/2025 the Council adopted Resolution R014-25. It awards Z School, Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, up to 72,000.00 for an online, on-demand course on opioid use disorder for police officers. Purchase order 58763 orders it for 160 officers at 450.00 each. The invoice is dated 02/04/2025 and is payable to Zschool LLC.
The course content is a listed use. The timing is the problem. The order was open at 06/30/2025. Check 906999 paid it on 08/07/2025, in the next fiscal year. The FY2025 report certifies the 72,000.00 as spent. Its first page also certifies 72,000.00 as encumbered but not yet spent. Certified an unpaid 72,000.00 course as FY2025 spending.
The overtime
The City's payroll overtime report for the settlement account lists 150 police officers paid 6 hours of overtime each on the 05-15-2025 pay date, 54,056.97 in all. Eight more officers were paid 6 hours each on 06-13-2025 and two more on 07-30-2025. Police overtime on the account totals 58,106.20.
No resolution or other produced record says what the overtime paid for. Police overtime is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Charged police overtime for 150 officers to the fund.
The course was bought for 160 officers. The overtime paid 150 officers the same 6 hours on one date. That the overtime paid officers to take the course is this project's inference. No record states it. Overtime pattern fits officers taking the police course.
The FY2024 report
The FY2024 report certifies 15,244.53 expended. It names one program, an Opioid Response Team funded 5/1/2024. It says the funding went to HIPAA compliant software, Cordata.
The 15,244.53 is every charge on the account in that year. All of it was paid between 08/15/2023 and 10/04/2023, months before the funding date. It bought a 13,700.00 deflection academy, refreshments, beach balls and staff overtime. The first Cordata payment was 09/18/2024, in the next year. Credited FY2024 spending to software paid the next year.
Receipts left off
On 01/02/2024 the City moved two settlement receipts, 7,451.19 and 8,766.11, to a second line of the same account. The money never left the fund. Both reports leave the 16,217.30 out of the receipts they certify, and their unspent balances are short by the same amount. Reports leave out 16,217.30 of settlement money received.
FY2026
The State published the FY2026 reports on 10/01/2026. The City's report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 225,552.34 spent, 6,993.00 encumbered and 4,054.33 of administrative expenses. All three figures tie to the account detail, which runs to 06/18/2026. The report spreads the spending over three program blocks.
| Program block | Certified | What the books show |
|---|---|---|
| MX908 Opioid and Hazardous Substance Detection Program, new, Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention | 94,460.28 | Safeware MX908, check 908085, 02/04/2026 |
| Operational Readiness for Police Officers, 2025 program update | 72,000.00 | Zschool, check 906999, 08/07/2025 |
| Opioid Response Team, 2024 program update | 55,037.73 | Twelve charges, among them Cordata software, the HazMat 101 class, EMS back packs, the MX908 charge station and overtime |
| Administrative | 4,054.33 | Tate Law Group, check 906994, 08/07/2025 |
| Total | 225,552.34 |
The Fire Department bought an MX908 handheld mass spectrometer from Safeware for 94,460.28. Resolution 521-25 states the purpose as on-scene identification and hazardous materials response. The Fire Chief's memo describes a device for chemical warfare agents, explosives and narcotics at HAZMAT scenes, crime investigations and security checkpoints. It notes that the device detects trace fentanyl. The invoice cites a Bergen County contract listed as SWAT. A charge station followed for 4,345.00. No overdose program using the detector is documented. Paid 98,805.28 for a fire department chemical detector.
The FY2026 report certifies the detector as a new program in the primary category Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It reports 0 individuals served. Its one performance measure is the number of MX908 systems placed into service, 1. A field chemical detector for hazmat response is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Certified a hazmat mass spectrometer as harm reduction.
HazMat 101 Consultants billed 7,945.00 for a course its sole source letter calls "Opioid Identification and HazMat Operational Review." The purchase order item line opens with that name, then lists the topics. It and the vendor's quote describe a fire hazmat refresher on gas leaks, fuel spills, lithium ion batteries, decontamination and a meth lab review. No topic listed is about opioids. No overdose program is documented. The FY2026 report counts the class inside its Opioid Response Team update. Billed a hazmat refresher as opioid identification.
The police course appears in the FY2026 report at 72,000.00, the year it was paid.
What went to listed uses
The City paid Cordata Healthcare Innovations 35,000.00 under Resolution R-249-24 for software that tracks overdoses and refers people to treatment. Paid 35,000.00 for overdose follow-up software. The youth mental health course, a deflection academy and the police course content are also listed uses. The Chris Herren presentations at Clifton High School are unverified. The records hold only the ledger line naming the speaker.
What should happen
The account has paid 182,207.07 that this project classifies as non-conforming. It is overtime, almost all of it police, a chemical detector, a hazmat refresher, EMS back packs and 12,317.10 of attorney fees to Tate Law Group. The overtime sits inside a certified total under program names that do not describe it, and no record states what the hours paid for. The hazmat refresher was billed as opioid identification, but its listed topics are not about opioids. No overdose program using the detector or the back packs is documented. None of these items is among the uses Exhibit E lists.
The attorney fees rest on a different rule. Section E(6) of the State Subdivision Agreement, the New Jersey MOA, says payments to counsel for local governments on the Distributor and Johnson and Johnson settlements shall be made from the Supplemental Contingent Fee Fund. One of the three payments is labeled National Opiate Settlement Funds Attorney fee. The other two are for representation in a matter the ledger cuts off as McKin. No produced record names the matter. The FY2026 report describes the 4,054.33 paid 08/07/2025 as fees for representation related to the Mallinckrodt Public Opioid Trust settlement recoveries, and certifies it as administrative.
The City can restore that money to the fund and spend it on an approved use.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2024, 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.