Freehold Borough
Freehold Borough spent 21,176.30 of its opioid settlement money, mostly on addiction treatment, and filed FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 reports whose spending, encumbrance and on-hand figures do not match its own books.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Freehold Borough has received 183,659.03 in opioid settlement money since 2022. Through 09/02/2026 it had spent 21,176.30.
- Most of that, 17,500.00, paid High Focus for addiction treatment. That is a listed use.
- The FY2025 report counted 13,830.00 of High Focus bills as spent in a year that ended 06/30/2025. The check went out 08/11/2025.
- The same report certified a 3,200.00 invoice as encumbered and unspent. It had been paid on 06/16/2025.
- It certified 476.30 as program administration. The payroll record shows eight hours of police department time, most of it billed at police overtime rates.
- The FY2026 report certifies 6,393.70 spent. The Borough paid 17,500.00 that year. No payment comes to 6,393.70.
- The FY2024 report put 68,500.47 on hand. Nothing had been spent. It had 102,841.17.
- The FY2025 report put 125,455.54 on hand. The books show 139,287.29.
The spending is small and mostly sound. The reports describing it are not.
Summary
Freehold Borough, Monmouth County, State ID NJ68, reported receiving 183,659.03 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 appropriated 74,313.74 of that money to two grant accounts, G-02-24-900-014 for salaries and wages and G-02-24-900-015 for other expenses. Through 09/02/2026 the two accounts paid five lines, 21,176.30 in all. Nothing was open. The FY2026 report puts 162,480.98 on hand. That is everything received less these five payments and 1.75, so the two accounts carry all of the Borough's settlement spending.
| Date | Payee | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/15/2024 | Borough of Freehold | Payroll charge PAY #21 | 476.30 |
| 06/16/2025 | Konscious Youth Development | Five month mindfulness training | 3,200.00 |
| 08/11/2025 | High Focus | Addiction services, March 2025 | 9,280.00 |
| 08/11/2025 | High Focus | Addiction services, April 2025 | 4,550.00 |
| 06/15/2026 | High Focus | Addiction services, October 2025 | 3,670.00 |
| Total | 21,176.30 |
This project classifies the High Focus payments, 17,500.00, as conforming. The mindfulness training and the payroll charge, 3,676.30 together, are unverified. The record does not show a program behind either one. No payment is classified non-conforming. Read the Borough's findings.
What the Borough told the State
The FY2023 and FY2024 reports certify 0.00 spent. The books agree. No payment left either account before 11/15/2024. The FY2024 report certifies 102,841.17 received to date and 68,500.47 on hand.
The FY2025 report covers 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. It certifies 14,306.30 spent, 3,200.00 encumbered and 476.30 in administrative expense. It certifies 125,455.54 on hand. It lists one program, High Focus, at 13,830.00 spent and 3,670.00 encumbered. It gives 04/15/2024 as the date the program was funded. The FY2024 report says no program was funded that year, and the contract was set up on 09/19/2024.
The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 6,393.70 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 0.00 in administrative expense. It certifies 162,480.98 on hand. It updates High Focus at 6,393.70 and marks the program ended.
| Year | Certified spent | Paid in the year |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2024 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2025 | 14,306.30 | 3,676.30 |
| FY2026 | 6,393.70 | 17,500.00 |
| Total | 20,700.00 | 21,176.30 |
FY2025 counted a payment made after the year closed
The Borough set up contract 24-00010 with High Focus on 09/19/2024 at 17,500.00. The first payment under it is check 20600, dated 08/11/2025. It paid 9,280.00 and 4,550.00 for March and April 2025 services, 13,830.00 in all.
The FY2025 report certifies that 13,830.00 as spent on High Focus in a year that ended 06/30/2025. Its 14,306.30 total is that check plus the 476.30 payroll charge, to the cent. The accounts paid 3,676.30 in the year. Reported 13,830.00 paid after year end as FY2025 spending.
FY2025 reported a paid invoice as unspent
The report certifies 3,200.00 encumbered but not yet spent at year end. Konscious Youth Development was paid 3,200.00 for mindfulness training by check 20369 on 06/16/2025, inside the year. What was open on 06/30/2025 was the High Focus contract at 17,500.00. The program page of the same report gives a different encumbrance, 3,670.00. The Konscious training is not in the report's program list. Certified a 3,200.00 paid invoice as an open encumbrance.
FY2025 described police payroll as administration
The report certifies 476.30 of administrative expense, described as "Organizing Informative and Interactive Programs." The ledger charge is PAY #21, check 240021, 11/15/2024. The Borough's labor distribution for that pay period puts the 476.30 on cost center G09, the opioid grant, for eight hours across three police department employees. Two are paid from the police salaries and overtime lines, and their opioid hours are billed at their own overtime rates, 347.90 in all. The third is police clerical staff at straight time, 128.40. The report does not say the expense is police payroll. No produced record shows what the eight hours were spent on. Certified police payroll as program administration.
FY2026 certifies a figure no payment makes
The FY2026 report certifies 6,393.70 spent. The account paid High Focus 17,500.00 in the year, check 20600 on 08/11/2025 and check 21966 for 3,670.00 on 06/15/2026. No payment or set of payments comes to 6,393.70.
The figure equals the 20,700.00 the audit trail prints as spent to date on the other expenses account, less the 14,306.30 the FY2025 report certified. It is 11,106.30 below what the Borough paid. The same report's on-hand figure, 162,480.98, is everything received less all 21,176.30 the books show paid, and less 1.75. The on-hand figure counts the payments. The spent figure does not. Reported 6,393.70 spent in FY2026 when 17,500.00 was paid.
The on-hand figures do not match the books
The FY2024 report certifies 102,841.17 received since 2022, with 0.00 spent and 0.00 encumbered. It then certifies 68,500.47 on hand, the year's receipts alone. Nothing had left either account. The figure leaves out 34,340.70, the FY2023 receipts and 1.75 of interest. Reported 68,500.47 on hand when 102,841.17 was unspent.
The FY2025 report certifies 125,455.54 on hand. That is the 142,963.59 received less the certified spending and encumbrance, less 1.75. The accounts had paid 3,676.30 by 06/30/2025, which left 139,287.29. The figure subtracts the 13,830.00 of High Focus invoices paid on 08/11/2025. Reported 13,831.75 less on hand than the books show.
What the records show
High Focus provided addiction treatment. Its contract was paid in full, 17,500.00, on three lines. High Focus treatment contract paid in full.
The Borough's check registers from 01/01/2018 show no payment to High Focus or to Konscious Youth Development before the settlement money arrived. Every payment to either vendor came from the settlement account. The police salaries line rose from 3,090,000.00 in 2019 to 3,840,000.00 in 2026. The record shows no settlement money replacing local spending. Both vendors were first paid with settlement money.
The two settlement accounts carry 74,313.74 of appropriations against 183,659.03 received. The rest sits unappropriated. The Borough's own FY2026 on-hand figure accounts for every dollar paid through these two accounts and no other.
What should happen
The Borough's spending is small and most of it is treatment. Its reports to the State do not describe that spending as it happened. FY2024 understated the money on hand by 34,340.70. FY2025 counted a payment made after the year closed, reported a paid invoice as unspent and understated the money on hand. FY2026 certifies a spent figure that no payment makes.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services should compare the Borough's FY2025 and FY2026 reports with its audit trail and ask what record supports the 476.30 charged for police payroll.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.