Hoboken
Hoboken moved 64,889.42 of existing Constituent Services salaries onto its settlement account, then certified salary and administrative spending to the State in FY2025 and FY2026 that its settlement account never shows.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- In 2024 the City moved 64,889.42 of salaries it already paid onto its settlement account. Each journal gave the same amount back to the City's current fund.
- The positions were City payroll in 2022 and 2023. The charges ran back to pay dated 01/10/2024.
- A City employee wrote, "I want us to charge as much social worker salary to the opioid grant as we can."
- The FY2026 report certifies 99,957.51 spent. The settlement account paid 32,023.40.
- The certified unspent figure is the account's real balance less 68,069.11 of salaries and administration the account never paid.
- The salary program in the FY2026 report reports the results of a one day Narcan event.
- The FY2024 report certifies 58,526.00 encumbered. The account had no order until 08/05/2024.
- The FY2026 report files 19,789.00 of trauma kits and an office printer as CPR training.
Summary
The City of Hoboken, Hudson County, reports receiving 372,021.92 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 City produced one settlement account, G-02-25-122-032. From 01/01/2022 to 09/03/2026 it paid 98,945.20.
| What the account paid for | Amount |
|---|---|
| Salary journals, Constituent Services | 64,889.42 |
| Trauma kits, Grainger | 12,906.00 |
| Naloxone kits, Willow Pharmacy | 7,650.00 |
| Printer, scanner and fax machine | 6,883.00 |
| Community CPR class | 3,740.00 |
| Food for two awareness events | 2,476.78 |
| Event banners | 400.00 |
| Total | 98,945.20 |
The naloxone and the 250.00 of opioid awareness banners are the purchases whose orders show opioid content, 7,900.00 in all. The salary journals replaced City money. The trauma kits, the printer and 2,476.78 of event food are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. The CPR class and one set of event banners, 3,890.00, are not documented beyond the City's own reports.
The account's balance was 213,515.20 on 09/03/2026. The FY2026 report says the City received 59,561.52 more than this account's appropriation, so some settlement money sits somewhere else. No other account was produced. Read the City's findings.
The salary journals
Two social workers and the head of the Office of Constituent Services were on the City's payroll before any settlement charge. The City's labor distribution reports show the office head's wages of 74,740.44 in 2022 and 228,451.82 for all three in 2023. None of it was charged to settlement funds. In 2024 the payroll system again charged every dollar to Constituent Services.
Five journals then moved part of that pay onto the settlement account.
| Journal | Posted | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Reference 10255, first social worker | 09/30/2024 | 20,865.37 |
| Reference 10255, second social worker | 09/30/2024 | 19,990.40 |
| Reference 10256, office head | 09/30/2024 | 9,850.96 |
| Reference 10391, October | 11/22/2024 | 8,509.61 |
| Reference 10426, November | 12/03/2024 | 5,673.08 |
| Total | 64,889.42 |
Each posting report the City produced credits current fund line 4-01-20-117-015, Constituent Affairs Chargeback Opioid Gt, with the same amount. The City's own expenditures net to 0.00. The settlement account paid salaries the City had already paid. The posting report for reference 10256 was not produced.
The worksheets behind the journals apply an estimate of 35 percent to the social workers' regular pay and 15 percent to the office head's. No time records were produced. The first worksheet covers pay dated 01/10/2024 to 09/18/2024. Of that charge, 27,125.01 is pay dated before 07/01/2024.
The emails produced with the journals show how the figures were set. On 08/01/2024 the Assistant Health Officer asked whether the social workers' salary had been charged. "The report is due in Sept and I would like to submit some expenditures." On 08/02/2024 a City employee replied, "I want us to charge as much social worker salary to the opioid grant as we can." The same email asked for the City's "maximum opportunity." On 10/10/2024 the office head was asked for her own percentage. She wrote that she did not have much direct interaction in this area. The City charged 15 percent of her pay.
The City kept ordering the social workers' business cards on its Constituent Affairs office supplies line in 2023, 2024 and 2025. No salary journal appears on the settlement account after 12/03/2024.
Section D(7) of the agreement between the State and its towns requires the money to supplement local spending and not supplant it. N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f) says the same. Charged 64,889.42 of existing City salaries to the fund.
What the City told the State
| Year | Certified spent | Paid from the account in the year |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2024 | 3,489.00 | 0.00 |
| FY2025 | 84,676.37 | 66,921.80 |
| FY2026 | 99,957.51 | 32,023.40 |
The FY2023 report certifies nothing spent. The account agrees.
The FY2024 report certifies 3,489.00, all of it administrative time of the Assistant Health Officer. It lists no programs. The account paid nothing in that year, and it shows no charge for her time at any date. Certified 3,489.00 of admin time its account never paid.
The same report certifies 58,526.00 appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent at 06/30/2024. The account shows no encumbrance before 08/05/2024, when the City ordered banners for its first awareness event. Spent, encumbered and unspent as certified make 248,008.86. That is 44,301.22 more than the 203,707.64 the report says the City received. Certified 58,526.00 encumbered with no order on the books.
The FY2025 report certifies 84,676.37. Staff salaries is 70,351.99, reported as a new program launched 07/01/2024 that pays "our dedicated Social Workers." The five journals charged 64,889.42. The Opioid Awareness Day Event is 2,032.38, and four payments for pizza, subs, ice cream and banners make that figure to the cent. The food is 1,782.38 of it. Administration is 12,292.00, described as 10 percent of the Assistant Health Officer's time. No charge for her time appears on the account at any date. Certified 17,754.57 more spending than its account paid.
FY2026
The State published the City's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026.
| Certified | Amount |
|---|---|
| CPR Training class | 23,394.00 |
| Staff salaries | 55,731.76 |
| Save a Life Day | 8,494.40 |
| Administration | 12,337.35 |
| Spent | 99,957.51 |
| Unspent on hand | 145,446.09 |
The account paid 32,023.40 in the year. Its audit trail through 09/03/2026 shows no salary charge and no administrative charge.
| Unspent on hand | Amount |
|---|---|
| Account balance, 06/30/2026 and 09/03/2026 | 213,515.20 |
| Less Staff salaries | -55,731.76 |
| Less administration | -12,337.35 |
| Certified unspent | 145,446.09 |
The certified unspent figure is the account's real balance less the two amounts the account never paid. The certified spending figure is the account's 32,023.40 plus the same two amounts, less 135.00. The City produced this one account for a request that covered every settlement account and did not state that it is the only one. Certified 68,069.11 spent with no charge on its account.
The Staff salaries block reports 16 people served, 40 harm reduction supplies and one session. Its statement of intended impact is the same text, word for word, as the Save a Life Day block. Save a Life Day reports the same 16 people and the same 40 Narcan kits. Both give 9/25/2025 as the funding date. Salary program reports the Narcan event's numbers.
Save a Life Day, 8,494.40, ties to the books. It is 694.40 of refreshments, 7,650.00 of naloxone kits and 150.00 of banners. Across the two events the City certified 2,476.78 of food as prevention programs. Certified 2,476.78 of event food as prevention programs.
The CPR Training class block names three purchases. A community CPR class cost 3,740.00. Trauma kits for first responders, which the report says treat "severe bleeding, collapsed lungs and/or blocked airways," cost 12,906.00. A printer "to support administrative duties" cost 6,883.00. Together they are 23,529.00, which is 135.00 more than the certified figure. The report files all three under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training. No overdose program using the trauma kits is documented. Trauma kits and office equipment are not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no listed use covers them. Certified trauma kits and a printer as CPR training. The report says the City got its CPR quote from the Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The books show the class paid to Sandy Shore's Scuba, LLC. No course record for the class was produced.
What should happen
The City can restore the 64,889.42 of salary journals to the settlement account and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program.
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 and FY2026 reports, who prepared them, and what records support the salary and administrative figures.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.