Gloucester Township

Summary

Gloucester Township, Camden County, reported receiving 570,586.91 in opioid settlement money through 06/30/2025. Exhibit E of the national settlements lists uses the money may fund. The list is not exhaustive. Other documented, evidence-based programs that address the epidemic also qualify. Either way the money must add to what the Township already spends, not replace it.

The Township holds the money in account G-02-10-832-000-000, Opioid Settlement Funds. Through 08/27/2026 the account shows 543,575.23 paid and 5,400.00 open. This project classifies 64,350.00 of the paid amount as conforming and 479,225.23 as non-conforming. Read the Township's findings.

The FY2023 report and the FY2024 report certify nothing spent. The books agree. The first payment from the account is dated 12/23/2024.

What the FY2025 report says

The FY2025 report certifies 227,903.76 expended between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025. It lists one program, Community Resource K9 (CRK9). The recipient is Community Resource Canine, LLC, a private for-profit company. The primary category is Primary Prevention, Education, and Training.

The report describes the program as trained handler-canine teams delivering "evidence-based practices in Animal-Assisted Interventions." It promises school presentations, monthly therapy sessions at recovery centers and crisis support for first responders. It certifies all 227,903.76 as spent on that program.

What the account paid

The audit trail printed 05/28/2026 shows 21 payment lines in the FY2025 window. They sum to 227,903.76 to the cent.

The named recipient received 50,400.00. The other 177,503.76 went to five other vendors. Certified every FY2025 payment as one K9 program.

The analyzers and the police course

Purchase order 24-07154 paid Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments 110,594.00 by check 122091 on 12/23/2024. It bought three TruNarc handheld narcotics analyzers with five year warranties and three TruNarc solutions kits. The purchase order and the invoice bill and ship the analyzers to Gloucester Township Police. No overdose or treatment program using them is documented, and field drug identification equipment is not among the uses Exhibit E lists.

Purchase order 24-07087 paid Zschool LLC 64,350.00 by check 123100 on 03/25/2025. The Seton Hall University invoice bills Gloucester Township Police for a certificate program titled Operational Readiness for Police Officers, Practical Strategies for Addressing Opioid Use Disorder and Co-occurring Conditions. At 450.00 per officer that is 143 enrollments. Exhibit E lists training of law enforcement personnel on opioid use disorder. This project classifies the course as conforming. Police opioid use disorder course ties to its invoice.

Neither purchase went to Community Resource Canine. Neither is an animal-assisted intervention. The report certifies both as the K9 program. Certified police drug analyzers as a K9 therapy program.

Two encumbrance figures

The FY2025 report certifies 5,400.00 appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent on its financial page. Its program page lists 43,200.00 as the "Amount encumbered/appropriated." It is the same program and the same year. The account's audit trail prints 0.00 in its Adopted and Amended columns.

At 06/30/2025 the account held one open order, purchase order 25-03873 to Community Resource Canine for 5,400.00. The financial page matches it. The next seven K9 orders were first encumbered between 07/08/2025 and 09/29/2025, after the year closed. No open commitment backs the other 37,800.00. Reported two different encumbrances for the same year.

The K9 program

The Township's vendor history for Community Resource Canine covers 01/01/2018 to 08/27/2026 and every account. It shows 223,200.00 paid and 5,400.00 open, all from the settlement account. The vendor was never paid from any other account. The first order was encumbered 02/24/2025.

The service invoices bill Gloucester Township Police for Community Resource K9, 80 units at 67.50, 5,400.00 each. The certification invoice bills a K-9 handler of the Police Department. A 1,000 copy order of coloring books is titled GTPD CRK9 and shipped to the Police Department.

No contract or service agreement with the vendor is among the pages the Township produced. The FY2025 report leaves blank the number of participants served, the number of sessions and the number of services provided. Police K-9 program spending falls outside the approved purposes, since K-9 units and equipment fit no Exhibit E category, and no overdose program using the dog is documented. This project classifies the K9 payments as non-conforming. Paid a K9 vendor 223,200.00 with no contract produced.

FY2026 and the ambulance charge

Between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026 the account paid 277,871.47. That is 25 K9 service payments totaling 135,000.00, 2,871.47 for the coloring books and a 140,000.00 charge on 03/02/2026 printed as Reimb Aid to Ambulance, Reference 5183, user LWURSTER.

The audit trail printed 08/27/2026 shows the ambulance line with no vendor and no purchase order. It is the largest single charge on the account. No journal voucher, invoice, purchase order or authorizing resolution for it is among the records the Township produced. No record beyond the FY2026 report shows who received the money or what it bought. Charged 140,000.00 with no ledger payee or invoice produced.

The FY2026 report certifies 277,871.47 spent, the same figure to the cent.

The certified encumbrance, 10,800.00, is two K9 service orders open on 06/30/2026 and paid on 07/13/2026. FY2026 spending total ties the ledger to the cent.

The EMS Services page describes expanded emergency medical response to overdoses, one time only, with 65,000 people served. It refers its performance figures to Inspira's records. Its procurement answer says the method should be verified through the Township's contract, resolution or purchasing records. The ledger line names no vendor, purchase order or check, and none of those records is among the files the Township produced.

In a written response dated 07/15/2026, the Chief Financial Officer states "No document exists" for any Township Council resolution or ordinance authorizing spending from the fund since 01/01/2022. The TruNarc purchase order recites Resolution R:24:11-372. The FY2025 report says Town Council approved the K9 vendor. No resolution is among the pages produced. CFO says no resolution authorizes spending from the fund.

What should happen

The Township can restore the 110,594.00 spent on narcotics analyzers to the fund and spend it on a listed use or another documented program that addresses the epidemic. It can document the 140,000.00 ambulance charge or restore it.

The K9 program has drawn 223,200.00 with no contract or service record in the produced files. The Township can publish the contract, the sessions held and the people served, or stop charging the program to the fund.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2025 report, who prepared it, and what records support it.

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