Englewood

Summary

The City of Englewood, Bergen County, told the State it had received 1,279,562.09 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 listed uses cover treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction.

The City keeps the money in one account, G-02-40-766-000-000, Opioid Funds. From 12/20/2023 through 09/14/2026 the account paid 122,551.02 net. One line of 377.59 was open on 06/10/2026, the last date the records show open orders. The City's FY2026 report certifies 1,162,581.76 still on hand. This project classifies the payments this way.

The largest payment from the fund is two existing public health salaries. The FY2026 report describes them as one opioid prevention employee. The FY2025 report describes defibrillator supplies as overdose prevention. Read the City's findings.

What the City told the State

The FY2023 report is accurate. It certifies nothing spent by 06/30/2023, and the first payment from the account is dated 12/20/2023.

The FY2024 report certifies 2,123.37 spent. The account paid 1,245.78 in that year. The FY2025 report's total ties to the books to the cent, but one of its programs is defibrillator supplies and another repeats a payment the FY2024 report already counted. The FY2026 report certifies 2,370.00 less than the account paid. The two totals differ by 1,492.41, which is the 2,370.00 the FY2026 report leaves out less the 877.59 the FY2024 and FY2025 reports count that the books do not.

Two salaries, one specialist

On 05/07/2025 City Manager Robert S. Hoffmann signed a memo about two Health Department positions, the Local Health Outreach Coordinator and the Infectious Disease Preparedness Generalist. It says both "were grant funded" and that the federal government cancelled the grants on 03/24/2025. It says the City committed to fund the positions from its temporary budget through 04/30/2025, and that from 05/01/2025, at 60,000.00 a year each, their compensation "is being charged to the Opioid Trust Fund."

The memo sets out how. The job descriptions "will be amended to reflect that there is an Opioid education or investigation component." Each position "must implement an opioid education or related activity," at least one a month. Both "will continue to report to their same Supervisor." If the positions continue after 03/31/2026, "the Health Department will be required to budget for the salary and benefits of both positions."

The job descriptions the City produced carry the added title Opioid Prevention Specialist. Each lists its COVID-19 and communicable disease duties first and an opioid section after them. The Health Department roster the City produced in July 2026 gives the payroll titles as "INFECTIOUS DIS PREP GENERALIST" and "HEALTH OUTREACH COORD". It lists the Health Outreach Coordinator as resigned.

The ledger shows how the charge was made.

Journal 627 takes both amounts off Health - Regular Pay, account 5-01-27-330-000-111. The City's 2025 check register shows that 66,000.00 and 65,000.00 are each employee's full 2025 regular pay. That includes 26,000.00 and 25,000.00 paid at the grant-level rate for 01/01/2025 to 04/30/2025, the months the memo says federal grants and the City budget covered. A Health Department email of 12/02/2025 calls the 32,750.00 moved to the NJ ACCHO grant January to March 2026 salary.

The two employees earned 80,000.00 from 05/01/2025 to 12/31/2025. The fund carries 98,250.00, which is 18,250.00 more. No record of the monthly opioid activities the memo requires was produced. Settlement money now pays two positions that federal grants and the City budget paid before. Paid two jobs from the fund after federal grants ended.

The FY2026 report certifies a new program, Opioid Prevention Specialist (OPS), at 99,705.00 spent, recipient Englewood Health Department, primary category Primary Prevention, Education, and Training. It gives the launch date as 5/1/2025, the date the memo gives for the new salary. It reports 800 individuals served. It says that in addition to outreach materials and CPR training supplies, the program "funds the salary of one employee." The 98,250.00 of salary is 98.5 percent of the certified figure, and it is the pay of two employees. By July 2026 one of the two had resigned, but the money certified as spent in FY2026 paid both. The FY2025 report had already told the State that settlement funding financed "two positions" under the combined titles, though no salary reached the account until 11/06/2025. Certified two Health salaries as one prevention specialist.

The FY2026 report names the officials who decided how to spend the money as the City Manager, the Chief Financial Officer, the Human Resources Director and the Acting Director of Health Services. The City Manager's memo went to a list that includes the Chief Financial Officer, the Director of Human Resources and the Acting Director of Health Services.

Defibrillators for youth coaches

The FY2025 report certifies a program named Operation Jumpstart at 2,281.96, recipient Englewood Parks and Rec. Its primary category is Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It states the problem as "Making athletes and coaches understanding safety in sports" and the program as "AED's were provided to sports coaches in order to serve the youth." Its stated outcome is that youth athletes and coaches leave "fully aware of signs and symptoms of possible cardiac arrest."

The books show the purchase. American AED was paid 690.00 for HeartStart pads and 1,032.00 for a carrying case on 06/05/2025. Amazon was paid 559.96 for AED pads and batteries on 06/18/2025. The three payments make the certified figure to the cent.

An AED is a defibrillator. It treats cardiac arrest. The report says so and files the purchase under overdose prevention anyway. No overdose program using the defibrillators is documented, and defibrillator supplies are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Certified AEDs for youth coaches as overdose prevention.

One Narcan training, two reports

The FY2024 report certifies a Narcan Trainings program at 2,000.00 spent between 07/01/2023 and 06/30/2024. The only set of whole orders on the account that totals 2,000.00 is these three.

The Children's Aid payment was made in the next year. The FY2025 report counts it again, as a 500.00 update to the Narcan program. Together the two reports certify 7,605.33 spent. The account paid 6,727.74 through 06/30/2025. The 877.59 difference is the 500.00 counted twice and the 377.59 never paid. The FY2025 report's own on-hand figure, 960,001.94, is the money received less the 6,727.74 actually paid. FY2024 and FY2025 reports overstate spending by 877.59.

The Narcan trainings themselves are a listed use, and this project counts them as conforming.

FY2026

The State published the City's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 107,505.00 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 1,162,581.76 on hand.

The account paid 109,875.00 net in that year. That is 2,250.00 to Allied Training and Emergency for CPR manikins and an AED trainer, the 98,250.00 of salary, and 1,575.00 and 7,800.00 to Children's Aid and Family Services for youth drug education. The spent figure is 2,370.00 lower. That is the amount the FY2025 report certified as encumbered for the Allied order, of which 2,250.00 was paid on 09/17/2025 and 120.00 voided.

The on-hand figure follows the books, not the spent figure. It is the 1,279,562.09 received less 116,980.33, which is every dollar the account paid through 06/30/2026 plus the 377.59 Glass Gardens line still open. So the report counts the 2,370.00 in one answer and leaves it out of another, and counts the 377.59 as committed while certifying nothing encumbered. FY2026 spent figure leaves out 2,370.00 of payments.

The Youth Education Series update, 7,800.00, ties to one Children's Aid payment on 06/24/2026. The City paid another 3,900.00 of the same order from its Municipal Alliance local match account.

Where the fund has gone

The flooring payment names no building and no program. It falls in the State's 2027 fiscal year, so no report covers it yet.

The City's records do not show journals or open orders after 06/10/2026. A budget detail for the account from 05/01/2026 has been promised and not yet produced.

What should happen

The City can restore the 98,250.00 of salary and the 2,281.96 of defibrillator supplies to the fund and spend the money on a listed use or a documented abatement program. The City Manager's memo already says the Health Department must budget for both positions if they continue after 03/31/2026.

The State relies on these reports to verify how the money is used. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 reports and the records behind them.

How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.