Long Branch
Long Branch used 750,000.00 of its opioid settlement money as the down payment on a bond for a building, a park and two parcels of land, and certified it to the State as a care program that had not launched.
Published 09/25/2026 · Updated 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Long Branch moved 750,000.00 out of its opioid settlement trust on 07/29/2025. The City's own bond ordinance says the money is the down payment on 11,421,608 of improvements financed in part by 9,821,608 of bonds or notes.
- The bond pays for a Health and Technology Center, a city park with playground and exercise equipment, two parcels of land and Section 20 costs, the design and other project costs the Local Bond Law allows.
- The City told the State it spent 769,965.52 in the year ending 06/30/2025 on a program called Health and Technology Center. The program's stated launch date is 12/31/2026.
- The trust paid nothing in that year. The 769,965.52 equals, to the cent, the bond down payment, a trailer and an order of First Aid Narcan Kits, all paid after the year closed.
- The unspent balance the City reported is the trust balance from August 2025.
- The FY2026 report covers the year the 776,669.98 actually left the trust. It certifies 0.00 spent and says no program was funded.
Summary
Long Branch, Monmouth County, took in 1,161,553.85 of opioid settlement money through 07/31/2026, by its own revenue and trust records. 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 City holds the money in the National Opioids Trust, account T-14- -100-179. Through 08/31/2026 the trust shows 776,669.98 paid out and 1,312.00 of printing on order. Of the money paid out, 750,000.00 went to a capital bond ordinance. A trailer and its outfitting took 20,922.46. Galls was paid 5,747.52 for an order the ledger describes as First Aid Narcan Kits. The trust held 383,571.87 on 08/31/2026.
The Galls order is the only spending this project classifies as conforming, on the ledger's own description. None of the other spending is documented as a treatment, recovery or connection to care program. Read the City's findings.
The bond down payment
The City Council adopted Ordinance O-02-25 on 02/12/2025 by a vote of 5 to 0. It appropriates 11,421,608 for capital improvements and authorizes 9,821,608 of bonds or notes. Section 1 says the 750,000 of down payments the Local Bond Law requires come from "moneys received from the State of New Jersey as the City's allocable share of payments from settlements of various lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic."
Section 3 spreads that down payment over five purposes.
| Purpose | Appropriation | Down payment |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Technology Center, with furniture, a camera system, access control, audio, alarms and technology equipment | 8,149,070 | 535,109 |
| City Center Park, with playground and exercise equipment and benches | 2,572,538 | 168,926 |
| Land at 228 Morris Avenue | 100,000 | 6,566 |
| Land at 209 Westwood Avenue | 100,000 | 6,566 |
| Section 20 costs | 500,000 | 32,833 |
| Total | 11,421,608 | 750,000 |
On 07/29/2025 the trust audit trail moves the money out with the description To Capital Ordinance 02-2025. The posting reference report shows three budget journals that day. The first moved 750,000.00. The second reversed it. The third moved it again. The net is one transfer of 750,000.00. Used 750,000.00 of settlement money as a bond down payment.
The capital audit trail shows what the bond is buying. The park account was committed in full to Shorelands Construction at 2,572,538.00 on 07/09/2025, under a purchase order line described Health, Wellness and Tech Ctr. Both parcels were bought for 100,000.00 each on 03/14/2025. On 06/26/2026 the City opened an order of 488,954.05 to SHI International Corp. for Health and Tech Ctr Cameras.
No treatment, recovery or connection to care program operating in the building is documented. Park construction, land and Section 20 costs are not among the uses Exhibit E lists.
The Local Bond Law makes a town put money down on improvements it finances with bonds. Long Branch met that requirement with settlement money. The agreement between the State and its towns says settlement money shall supplement and not supplant local funds that otherwise would have been used for approved purposes. That the settlement money took the place of the City's own down payment is this project's inference from the ordinance. Settlement money met the City's own bond down payment.
What the City told the State
The FY2025 report covers 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. It certifies 769,965.52 expended on one program.
| Report field | Answer |
|---|---|
| Program | Health and Technology Center |
| Recipient | City of Long Branch |
| Primary category | Wraparound and Connected Care Supports |
| Primary problem | Transportation divide to existing programs |
| Launch date | 12/31/2026 |
| Key performance indicator | Unknown |
| Expended | 769,965.52 |
| Encumbered | 0.00 |
The report describes the program as "a 15M dollar project that will be supplemented by opioid funds."
The certified figure equals three outflows from the trust to the cent.
| Outflow | Paid | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer to capital Ordinance 02-2025 | 07/29/2025 | 750,000.00 |
| Galls, First Aid Narcan Kits, check 65620 | 08/01/2025 | 5,747.52 |
| Hecht Trailers, 7x14 custom trailer, check 66820 | 11/05/2025 | 14,218.00 |
| Total | 769,965.52 |
The program the City certified matches, to the cent, a bond down payment, a trailer and an order of First Aid Narcan Kits. Certified a bond down payment as a care program.
Spending in the wrong year
The trust paid nothing between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025. Its only entries in that year are money coming in. Every one of the three outflows came after the year closed, in the FY2026 window.
At 06/30/2025 two of the purchase lines were open orders. The Hecht trailer order was first encumbered on 04/07/2025. The first Galls line was first encumbered on 06/19/2025. Together they are 14,899.38. The report certifies nothing encumbered. Reported FY2026 outflows as FY2025 spending.
The FY2026 report covers the year the money did move. It certifies none of it. The spending sits in the year it did not happen and is missing from the year it did.
The balances the City reported
The FY2025 report certifies 162,089.63 of unspent money on hand. On 06/30/2025 the trust held 917,837.15 and had spent nothing. The trust prints 162,089.63 as its balance after the Galls check posted on 08/01/2025, after the 750,000.00 left.
The Hecht trailer is counted twice. It is inside the 769,965.52 certified as spent. It was not paid until 11/05/2025, so it is also inside the 162,089.63. The two figures total 932,055.15, which is 14,218.00 more than the 917,837.15 the City had received. Reported an August 2025 balance as June money on hand.
The same report certifies 837,337.24 received since 2022. That is the 11/14/2024 journal that moved the City's 2022 to 2024 receipts into the trust. It leaves out deposits of 17,152.43 on 04/30/2025 and 63,347.48 on 06/30/2025. FY2025 receipts figures stop at November 2024.
The FY2024 report certifies nothing spent and 552,501.68 on hand. The revenue audit trails show 660,244.99 received by 06/30/2024. The certified figure is the 2023 and early 2024 receipts. It leaves out the 107,743.31 received in 2022. FY2024 money on hand leaves out the 2022 receipts.
The trailer
| Payee | Item | Paid | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hecht Trailers | 7x14 custom trailer | 11/05/2025 | 14,218.00 |
| Uline | HEARS Trailer items and shipping | 12/31/2025 | 2,978.65 |
| Elite Vehicle Solutions | Wrap for Opioid Trailer | 01/21/2026 | 3,661.04 |
| Sip's Paint and Hardware | Items for Trailers | 02/04/2026 | 64.77 |
| Total | 20,922.46 |
The FY2025 report says the City "purchased a trailer for mobile outreach." Mobile outreach can fall under the listed uses. The record holds no program description, schedule, staffing or count of people reached for the trailer. The 6,704.46 paid for the trailer's fittings, wrap and hardware appears in no report. Built an outreach trailer with no documented program.
The Galls order is described in the ledger as First Aid Narcan Kits. Naloxone is among the uses Exhibit E lists. This project classifies the 5,747.52 as conforming on that description. The three Galls invoices were not produced.
FY2026
The State published the FY2026 reports on 10/01/2026. The City's report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026, the year every dollar left the trust.
| Report field | Answer |
|---|---|
| Received in the year | 174,598.98 |
| Received since 2022 | 1,011,936.22 |
| Spent | 0.00 |
| Encumbered, not yet spent | 0.00 |
| Administrative | 0.00 |
| Unspent on hand | 383,571.87 |
| Funded any program | No |
The report says the City is building and opening a Health and Wellness Center in the next quarter.
The trust paid out 776,669.98 in that year.
| Outflow | Paid | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer to capital Ordinance 02-2025 | 07/29/2025 | 750,000.00 |
| Galls, First Aid Narcan Kits, check 65620 | 08/01/2025 | 5,747.52 |
| Hecht Trailers, 7x14 custom trailer, check 66820 | 11/05/2025 | 14,218.00 |
| Uline, HEARS Trailer items and shipping, check 67546 | 12/31/2025 | 2,978.65 |
| Elite Vehicle Solutions, Wrap for Opioid Trailer, check 67664 | 01/21/2026 | 3,661.04 |
| Sip's Paint and Hardware, Items for Trailers, check 67887 | 02/04/2026 | 64.77 |
| Total | 776,669.98 |
The FY2025 report had certified 769,965.52 of it a year before it moved. The other 6,704.46 appears in no report. Certified 0.00 spent while 776,669.98 left the trust.
On 04/23/2026 the City ordered rack cards, business cards, table covers and a banner from Jamm Printing on the trust, 1,312.00 in all. The order was still open on the trust audit trail printed 08/31/2026. The report certifies nothing encumbered. Left a 1,312.00 open printing order out of encumbrances.
The report's year figure for money received, 174,598.98, equals the seven deposits in the year to the cent. Its running total since 2022, 1,011,936.22, still leaves out the 80,499.91 that the FY2025 report left out. FY2026 receipts total still leaves out 80,499.91.
What should happen
The City moved 750,000.00 of settlement money into a bond for a building, a park, land and Section 20 costs, and certified it to the State as a care program. The City can restore that money to the trust and spend it on a listed use or another documented program that addresses the epidemic.
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 them.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.