Franklin Township, Gloucester County

Summary

Franklin Township, Gloucester County, has taken in 179,784.43 of opioid settlement money through 06/03/2026, by its revenue ledger. The national settlements list uses for the money, 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. In either case the money must supplement local spending, not replace it.

The Township spends from one account, G-02-41-717-003, National Opioids Settlement Fund. Through 08/19/2026 it paid 131,666.17 net of a 175.00 credit. A 450.00 order for electronic sign repair was open.

This project classes 118,909.46 as non-conforming, 8,996.91 as unverified and 3,759.80 as conforming. The conforming money is the naloxone and the school assemblies. A patrol car and a sign took 79.8 percent of the account. Read the Township's findings.

The patrol car

Resolution R-123-24, adopted 08/13/2024, authorizes two identical 2022 Ford Police Interceptor vehicles from Nielsen Ford at 66,622.06. It certifies half the cost to capital line C-04-23-012-002, Police Vehicles and Equipment, and half to the National Opioids Settlement Fund.

The dealer's vendor history shows exactly two purchases since 2018. Purchase order 24-01828, 33,311.03, was charged to the opioid fund and paid on check 143792. Purchase order 24-01829, an identical vehicle at the same price, was charged to the capital ordinance and paid on check 2204. Both were encumbered on 08/14/2024 and paid on 09/10/2024. The upfit vendor history shows the same split. Purchase order 24-01827, 24 lines at 13,553.16, went to the capital ordinance. Purchase order 24-01896, the same 24 lines at the same prices, went to the opioid account. The opioid account paid for a police vehicle and an upfit the capital budget was already buying. Bought two identical patrol cars, charged one to abatement.

The upfit quotation is headed PATROL MARKED UNIT. It lists a push bumper, emergency light bars, a siren and light controller, a console and a weapon mount.

The FY2025 report certifies a program named Police Department Overdose Response Vehicle at 46,844.19 and files it under Treatment. It states the program's impact as "Police will respond in additional unmarked vehicle for privacy and attempt to counsel the overdose victim and take them to treatment in unmarked vehicle." The two payments total 46,864.19, 20.00 above the certified figure. A marked patrol car is not treatment for opioid use disorder, and no listed use covers it. Certified the patrol car as an overdose response vehicle.

The sign

Resolution R-155-24, adopted 10/08/2024, opens with the purpose. "WHEREAS, the Township desires to replace the Administrative and Police Department illuminated sign which borders Delsea Drive." It funds the replacement from the National Opioids Settlement Fund.

The contract reuses the existing pole and removes the old sign. The electrical contractor billed for wiring run from the building basement to the sign.

The Township told the State what the sign would show. The FY2024 report says it will run "revolving displays" and that "every other display will be narcotics prevention related." The FY2025 report says the board advertises Straight to Treatment, Narcotics Anonymous meetings and a purple flag remembrance. No record documents an evidence-based prevention campaign that the board carries. Permanent signage at a municipal building is not among the uses Exhibit E lists, whatever it displays. A 450.00 order for electronic sign repair, dated 07/30/2026, puts the same sign on the account again. Spent it on an illuminated sign at the municipal building.

Night Out on the opioid account

The Township has bought National Night Out and community day merchandise from Mary Bridget Enterprises since 2018, on the police community policing and D.A.R.E. line and on fire prevention lines. From August 2024 the same merchandise for the same events moved to the opioid account. The account paid 608.10 and 2,000.00 in September 2024, 2,226.43 in August 2025, 1,299.45 in September 2025 and 4,608.64 in August 2026. Youth week uniforms from the same vendor stayed on the D.A.R.E. line in August 2024 and June 2025. Both lines ran in the same months. Moved night out merchandise from police lines to abatement.

The FY2025 report certifies a program named National Night Out Police Youth Week at 5,713.10 under primary prevention. That is 608.10 of fly swatters for community day, 2,000.00 of Night Out and community day shirts and 3,105.00 for a youth week trip to an amusement park. Certified shirts, fly swatters, a park trip as prevention.

What Franklin told the State

Each town with a direct share files an annual report with the Department of Human Services.

The FY2023 and FY2024 reports agree with the books. FY2024 is the naloxone and the school assemblies, to the cent.

The FY2025 report certifies 116,777.87. Three new programs account for 57,157.24, the vehicle, Night Out and the trading cards. The other 59,620.63 is certified on the update block for the prior year's Steered Straight school assemblies. The books show what it bought. The sign package, 58,197.65, and the community center television and soundbar, 1,422.98, total 59,620.63 exactly. The assembly vendor was paid 3,000.00 once, on 04/23/2024, and nothing since. Booked the sign and television to a school assembly program. The trading card program, 4,599.95, ties to the books. The certified trading card program ties to the books.

The rest of the FY2025 report does not describe the account.

• It certifies 98,691.82 received in the year. Cash received was 42,789.53. The 98,691.82 is a Chapter 159 budget insertion under RES 153-24, not a receipt. Reported a budget insertion to the State as cash received.
• It certifies 14,065.77 encumbered. No encumbrance supports it. That figure is the appropriation balance left after the 07/08/2025 permit payment. Reported the leftover budget balance as committed spending.
• It certifies 0.00 unspent on hand. Cash received less cash paid at 06/30/2025 was 32,080.13. Reported no unspent funds while the account still held cash.

FY2026

The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 7,022.53 spent and breaks it down as 3,525.88 of National Night Out merchandise, 2,634.00 on officer wellness and 862.65 of sign permitting.

The account paid 6,672.53 in that year.

The officer wellness spending nets to 2,284.00. The report gives 2,634.00, which adds the 175.00 credit as a charge instead of subtracting it. The certified total is 350.00 above the books. Counted a 175.00 credit as a charge, overstating FY2026.

The 862.65 permit is in this year's figure and in the FY2025 figure. The Steered Straight update on page 7 certifies it again as 862.50, under a school assembly program. One payment now sits in two years of certified spending. By its payment date it belongs to FY2026. Counted one 862.65 sign permit in two years of spending.

The Night Out update certifies 3,525.88, the August and September 2025 merchandise orders to the cent.

The report names the Chief of Police and the Township Solicitor as the officials who decided how to spend the money, "with final approval by CFO and Administrator." It answers No to engaging the public.

What should happen

The account has paid 118,909.46 for a patrol car, a municipal sign, event merchandise and an amusement park trip that no listed use covers. The Township can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program. The 450.00 sign repair order is open. The Township can cancel it against the opioid account.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller can examine the FY2025 and FY2026 reports and the records behind them.

The account ledger is here and the vendor histories are here. How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.