Fair Lawn Borough

Summary

Fair Lawn Borough, Bergen County, reports receiving 96,658.24 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 Borough produced one record of its settlement spending. It is a Budget Account Status and Transaction Audit Trail for four settlement lines, G-02-41-210-000-003, -005, -006 and -007, from 01/01/2022 to 05/28/2026. The lines show 49,941.38 paid and nothing open. A school speaker took 15,000.00 in June 2024. The other 34,941.38 was paid from 11/25/2025 to 04/24/2026. No settlement revenue account was produced, so the receipts on this page come from the Borough's reports.

Of the 49,941.38, this project classifies 15,000.00 as conforming, 5,916.38 as non-conforming and 29,025.00 as unverified. Read the Borough's findings.

What the Borough told the State

Every report from FY2024 on certifies 0.00 encumbered. The settlement lines show nothing encumbered on 05/28/2026.

FY2023. The report lists one planned program, an Opioid Overdose Prevention Program for naloxone training and free naloxone kits. It gives the funding as 14,370.74, the funding date as N/A and the launch as "TBD based on NOGA." It reports nothing spent, and the books agree. No payment for naloxone or naloxone training appears on the settlement lines through 05/28/2026.

FY2024. The report certifies 15,000.00 spent on Educating Students and the Public on SUD. It describes three 90-minute presentations by Hill Speaks LLC for high school and middle school students, student athletes, grade 8 students and parents, with 600 participants. Purchase order 24-02107 to Hill Speaks LLC, posted 06/19/2024, is the figure to the cent. The check was voided on 07/15/2024 and replaced the next day. The speaker program ties to the books.

FY2025. The report certifies nothing spent and no new programs. The books agree. The same report certifies 100,882.53 of unspent money on hand. That is more than the 73,370.33 it says the Borough had received since 2022, and more than the 96,658.24 the Borough reports receiving through 06/30/2026.

FY2026. The State published the Borough's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 37,026.38 spent, 34,941.38 of it as administrative expenses, and 92,136.21 on hand.

The administrative expenses

Question 8a of the FY2026 report lists what the 34,941.38 of administrative expenses bought. The settlement lines show each item.

The total is the certified figure to the cent. These are every payment from the settlement lines between 07/01/2025 and 05/28/2026, the date of the print.

The same report describes the conference and the t-shirts as program activity. Its answer to question 12 says the LEAD conference "equips our police personnel with advanced, evidence based diversion and intervention strategies" and that three police officers attended. It says the t-shirts and small engagement items extend the curriculum of school assemblies.

Page 5 of the form says a town that reports spending at question 6 must answer the program questions for each program the money funded. Those questions ask for the recipient, the category, the Schedule B strategy and the number of people served. Filed as administration, these five purchases carry none of those answers. The report gives them only for Too Smart to Start, 2,085.00, which it dates 06/01/2026. Certified 34,941.38 of program purchases as administration.

The shirts, the bracelets and the lunch

The JCM order buys 4,225.00 of Fair Lawn LEAD T-Shirts, 72.00 of sweatshirts, 675.00 of silicone bracelets, an 11.95 long sleeve tee and 350.56 of shipping. The Ness Pizza payment is the remainder of a L.E.A.D. graduation lunch.

The report's answer to question 12 ties t-shirts and small engagement items to the Too Smart to Start assemblies. The report dates that program's funding 06/01/2026 and certifies it separately. The shirts were paid on 11/25/2025, and the ledger names them for L.E.A.D. No record produced describes a L.E.A.D. curriculum, the graduation, or who received the merchandise. No evidence-based program that the shirts, bracelets or lunch serve is documented. Apparel, giveaways and event food are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Spent 5,916.38 on L.E.A.D. shirts, bracelets and a lunch.

The Zschool program and the conference

The largest payment is 27,000.00 to Zschool LLC for an Operational Readiness Program. One purchase order, 26-01558, paid by check 119678 on 04/24/2026, charged 15,005.19 to the 2022 settlement line and 11,994.81 to the 2024 line. The FY2026 report lists it only as "Operational Readiness Program by ZSchool." No record produced describes what the program taught, who took part or how many.

The Lead Inc. registration, 1,197.00, and the Harrah's hotel stay, 828.00, are for the conference three police officers attended. No record of what the conference covered was produced.

A course on addressing opioid use disorder, and training tied to the epidemic, are among the uses Exhibit E lists. The record does not show whether these purchases were that. This project classifies the 29,025.00 as unverified. Their administrative label is part of the finding above.

The money on hand

The FY2026 report certifies 92,136.21 of unspent and uncommitted money currently on hand. The settlement account print of 05/28/2026 shows where the figure comes from.

A budget balance is not cash. The four settlement lines were budgeted at 146,406.36. The report says the Borough has received 96,658.24 since 2022, which is 49,748.12 less.

Closing that difference after 06/30/2026 would take more new money than the Borough reports receiving in any year since 2022. Reported budget line balances as 92,136.21 on hand.

What should happen

The Borough can restore the 5,916.38 spent on L.E.A.D. merchandise and a lunch to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program. It can produce the records that show what the Zschool program and the Lead Inc. conference covered and who attended.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2026 report, who prepared it, and what records support its administrative and on-hand figures.

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