Monroe Township, Gloucester County

Summary

Monroe Township, Gloucester County, reports 288,597.68 in opioid settlement money received through 06/30/2026. 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 two accounts, G-01-23-100-000-018 OPIOID GRANT FUNDS and G-01-24-100-000-017 National Opioid Settlement Funds. Two more accounts only take in receipts. From 03/14/2024 through 07/22/2026 the spending accounts paid 138,020.38. Another 10,152.27 was committed but not paid at 08/19/2026.

This project classes the payroll charge as non-conforming. Every other payment is unverified, because no record shows what it bought for abatement. Nothing is classed as conforming. Read the Township's findings.

The police payroll

Purchase order 24-00917 is the voucher for the Township payroll run dated 03/14/2024. It totals 782,355.50 across 61 account lines. One line charges 46,680.25 to G-01-23-100-000-018. The Township captions that line Opioid Grant Funds - Police Salaries. Check 9961 paid it the same day. It was the first payment from any opioid account. Purchase order 24-00917.

The same voucher charges 388,718.98 of police full time salary to the police salary appropriations, 308,352.68 on the current year line and 80,366.30 on the prior year line. No abatement program is documented behind the opioid charge, and no listed use covers police pay. Paid police salary from a line captioned Opioid Grant Funds.

Without the opioid line, the 46,680.25 would have fallen on the police salary and accumulated absence appropriations. Reading that as settlement money replacing an existing funding source is an inference. The allocation itself is on the voucher. Settlement funds replaced police salary appropriations.

What Monroe told the State

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

The FY2023 report certifies 46,680.25 expended as of 06/30/2023. It names one program, an Opioid Task force under Prevention and Education, for "Educating residents of the harmfulness of these drugs." The audit trails for all four opioid accounts run from 01/01/2022. They show no payment of any kind before 03/14/2024. The only 46,680.25 in any of them is the payroll charge, eight months after the certified date. The figure, the category and the date are each contradicted by the Township's own records. The report is false. Certified payroll as opioid task force eight months early.

The FY2024 report certifies 92,562.75 for the year. The accounts paid 57,480.25 on five purchase orders, 46,680.25 of it the payroll charge. Certified 92,562.75 in FY2024, the books show 57,480.25. It reports a program named Monroe Township Committee on Addiction, funded at 156,498.72, with 73,662.75 expended. No payment or combination of payments in either spending account reaches 73,662.75 in any year. Certified 73,662.75 on a committee program with no payment. It certifies 18,900.00 of administration. The consultant was paid 10,800.00 inside that year. FY2024 administration certified 18,900.00, paid 10,800.00.

The same report says the committee "distributed Narcan boxes in schools and other key locations." No naloxone purchase appears in any of the four accounts from 01/01/2022 to 08/19/2026. Reported Narcan given out, no naloxone in opioid accounts.

The FY2025 report certifies 21,191.74, all of it administration. That figure equals every payment from the National Opioid Settlement Funds account from 09/25/2024 through 07/23/2025. It leaves out the 19,100.76 paid from the other spending account in the year and adds a 3,000.00 payment made after the year closed. Certified 21,191.74 in FY2025, the books show 37,292.50. The report answers No to funding any new programs. In the same year the accounts paid 12,092.50 for a memorial vigil, 5,942.50 for advertising, 5,800.00 for an audio system and 350.00 for photos. Certified no new programs, paid a media firm for the vigil.

Across FY2023 to FY2025 the reports certify 160,434.74 spent. The accounts paid 94,772.75 through 06/30/2025. Certified 160,434.74 through FY2025, books show 94,772.75. The unspent balances the FY2024 and FY2025 reports give exceed what their own received and spent figures leave, by 39,912.65 and 21,326.94. Unspent balances exceed what the certified figures leave.

FY2026

The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It reports 75,645.76 received in the year, 52.96 of interest and 288,597.68 received since 2022.

It certifies 29,627.63 spent and the same 29,627.63 as administration. It answers No to funding any programs. Its description of the administration repeats the FY2025 wording word for word. "These expenses included organizing meetings and coordinating community events."

The spending account paid 40,247.63 in that year, thirteen payment lines on twelve checks from 07/23/2025 to 06/24/2026. The certified figure is 10,620.00 below the books. The record does not show which payments the report leaves out.

The 3,000.00 the report carries as committed ties to the books. It is purchase order 26-01968, Civic Solutions consulting for July 2026, paid 07/22/2026. Township audit trail, 05/01/2026 to 08/19/2026.

The report gives 181,297.29 as unspent and uncommitted on hand. On the reports' own figures, 288,597.68 received less the 190,062.37 certified spent across FY2023 to FY2026, less the 3,000.00 committed, leaves 95,535.31. The report's balance is 85,761.98 higher than its own arithmetic allows.

Asked which officials decided how to spend the money, the report answers "The MTCAA and Civic Solutions, LLC." MTCAA is the Township's volunteer Committee on Addiction Awareness. The report says the Township engaged Civic Solutions "to lead community meetings, develop a reflection area, coordinate the annual vigil, and create a community brand." It answers that the Township has no strategic plan and did not engage the public before deciding.

The consultant and the media agency

Civic Solutions LLC has been paid 66,000.00 from the two spending accounts, from 03/27/2024 through 07/22/2026. The Township's vendor history for the firm, 01/01/2018 to 08/19/2026, shows 23 line items. Every one is charged to an opioid account. The payments run 2,700.00 a month in 2024 and 3,000.00 a month from 2025. No contract, scope of work or deliverable is in the records produced. Paid a consultant 66,000.00 with no written scope on record. Civic Solutions vendor history.

Spark Creative Group LLC has been paid 24,485.90, for vigil advertising, a vigil audio system and marketing and project management. Neither firm was paid from any other Township fund or before the settlement money arrived. They are new costs, not old ones moved onto the opioid account. Consultant and media agency paid only from opioid accounts. Spark Creative Group vendor history.

On 08/03/2026 the account committed 4,280.00 to The Black Poster Project for an exhibit event, 2,402.50 to Spark for its media and graphics and another 3,000.00 to Civic Solutions for August.

What should happen

The account paid 46,680.25 of police payroll 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 consultant's 66,000.00 has no scope of work on record. The Township can produce the contract and the work it paid for, or stop the retainer.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller can examine the FY2023 through FY2026 reports and the records behind them.

The full ledger is on the Monroe Township page. The audit trails are here. How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.