Essex County

Summary

Essex County received opioid settlement money from the national settlements and from two of its towns. The money must go to the abatement uses the settlements list, or to documented evidence-based programs that address the epidemic. It must add to local spending, not replace it.

The County produced one Account Detail export on 09/15/2026. It covers the County's settlement appropriation accounts, 02-213-22-350-063-001 through 02-213-26-350-063-008, from 12/02/2022 to 08/20/2026. It shows 28 budget insertions totaling 3,226,215.47 and eleven payments totaling 224,286.00. Every payment went to Public Consulting Group. No other vendor, journal or transfer appears.

The County's reports describe the spending as a needs assessment. Planning to identify needs is among the uses Exhibit E lists. The purchase orders say only consulting, and the contract and the assessment were not produced, so this project classifies the payments as unverified. The County's reports to the State do not match its books. Read the County's findings.

What the County received

The SCY26 figure includes a second Livingston transfer of 42,694.85. The County has placed each town's money in its own sub-account. None of it has been spent.

The export holds budget insertions, not receipts. The dates the County received its money are not in the record.

What it spent

The County's Department of Health and Rehabilitation hired Public Consulting Group by publicly advertised RFP 23-184 for a countywide opioid use disorder needs assessment. The contract ran twelve months and was not to exceed 224,286.00.

Master purchase order 443880 was encumbered for 224,286.00 on 12/08/2023. Each month a child order of 20,389.63 was released from it and paid.

The County's reports describe 26 key informant interviews, 12 focus groups and three surveys with 255 participants. The contract, the invoices and the assessment itself were not produced. Invoice INV#106079 is cited on three of the payments.

Nothing has been paid or ordered from the accounts since 11/27/2024.

What the County told the State

FY2023 reports cumulative receipts as of 06/30/2023. Each later row is the year from 07/01 to 06/30. The FY2023 receipts tie to the first two insertions. The FY2025 expended figure ties to the five FY2025 payments. The FY2026 report certifies nothing spent and nothing encumbered, and the books agree.

The FY2024 and FY2025 reports file the needs assessment under the primary category Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. Both select the Schedule B strategy Research.

What the records show

Receipts counted twice

The FY2024 report certifies 942,615.00 received. That equals the 12/08/2023 insertion of 36,942.64 plus six insertions dated 07/23/2024 under one resolution, which total 905,672.36.

The FY2025 report certifies 1,619,621.76 received. That equals every SCY24 insertion, 1,570,883.15, plus a 07/01/2025 Walgreen insertion of 48,738.61. The SCY24 total contains the same six 07/23/2024 insertions.

The FY2026 report then puts cumulative receipts at 3,226,215.47. That is 107,487.59 less than the FY2025 figure, in a year it says the County received 562,465.65. Counted 905,672.36 of receipts in two reports.

More on hand than the books hold

The FY2025 report certifies 3,231,754.84 on hand.

The difference is the 905,672.36 counted twice plus the 122,337.78 paid in FY2024 that the figure never deducts. The certified figure is also higher than every insertion the County made through 08/20/2026, 3,226,215.47. Certified 1,028,010.14 more on hand than the books hold.

One payment, two years

The FY2024 report certifies 142,727.41 spent. That is seven installments. Six were paid by 06/30/2024. The seventh, check 77050, was paid 07/26/2024. The FY2025 report counts it again.

The same FY2024 report certifies 81,558.59 encumbered. The books held 101,948.22 open on the master order at 06/30/2024. Counted one 20,389.63 consultant payment in two years.

A study filed as harm reduction

Both reports file the Opioids Needs Assessment under the primary category Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. Both describe it as qualitative and quantitative research and select the Schedule B strategy Research. The FY2025 report expects it to reach 0 clients. The ledger shows eleven payments to Public Consulting Group, 224,286.00 in all. Every purchase order reads "Public Consulting Group to provide Consulting". No harm reduction or overdose prevention service, supply or program appears in the books. Certified a consultant study as harm reduction.

Receipts in no year

The FY2026 received figure equals the insertions dated 07/01/2025 to 08/20/2026, 846,923.38, less three of them. One is the 07/01/2025 Walgreen insertion of 48,738.61, which the FY2025 report already counts. The others are the Janssen insertion of 180,001.75 on 08/22/2025 and the Livingston transfer of 55,717.37 on 09/08/2025. Those two are in no year's figure. The FY2026 figure does include 71,500.18 inserted after 06/30/2026. Left 235,719.12 of receipts out of every yearly figure.

The new program

The FY2025 report says the County funded a new program in the year. It lists the Essex County Opioids Needs Assessment, funded and launched 07/01/2024, disbursed quarterly. The FY2024 report lists the same assessment with the same consultant, funded and launched 11/01/2023. Both reports cite the same RFP. The FY2025 payments are the last five installments of the order opened 12/08/2023. They were paid monthly. Reported a 2023 contract as a new FY2025 program.

The money on hand

The FY2025 report certifies 3,231,754.84 on hand. That is its cumulative receipts less its FY2025 spending alone. It leaves out the 122,337.78 paid in FY2024, and it starts from receipts that count 905,672.36 twice. A year later, with nothing spent, the FY2026 report puts the amount on hand at 3,001,929.47. Unspent figure leaves out 122,337.78 paid in FY2024.

FY2026

The State published the County's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 562,465.65 received, 0.00 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 3,001,929.47 on hand. It says the County funded no programs.

The books agree that nothing was spent or ordered. The report says the County developed the Opioid Settlement Advisory Council's recommendations and a Settlement Funding Network Framework, and has not finalized spending allocations. It says the County has a strategic plan and that the State may not post it.

The on hand figure equals every insertion through 08/20/2026 less the 224,286.00 paid. Two of those insertions, 71,500.18 together, are dated after 06/30/2026. The export holds budget insertions, not receipts. Livingston's own records show it sent its 42,694.85 on 05/29/2026, inside the year. This project publishes no finding on the FY2026 on hand figure. The FY2026 received figure leaves out two insertions made in the year, as set out above.

What is still missing

The County did not produce the Public Consulting Group contract, invoices or assessment, the County's vendor history with the firm, or any receipt, revenue or bank record for the settlement money. It did not state that the export is the only account that received or paid settlement funds.

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