Lyndhurst Township

Summary

Lyndhurst Township, Bergen County, State ID NJ120, reported receiving 134,461.96 in opioid settlement money 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 Township's settlement account is G-02-700-23-701-000, National Opioid Settlement. Its prints run from 01/01/2022 to 08/31/2026. The account paid nothing until 03/25/2025. Through 08/31/2026 it shows four payments totaling 17,203.12 and one open order of 7,485.95.

This project classifies 6,300.00 as conforming, because the course is opioid use disorder training for police. It classifies 10,903.12 as non-conforming. None is unverified. Read the Township's findings.

What the Township told the State

• FY2023. The report lists 27,135.37 received and 0.00 expended as of 06/30/2023. It sets up two programs for the Lyndhurst Municipal Alliance, one for anti-substance abuse and one for mental health. It gives the funding for each as TBD. The anti-substance abuse program describes a drinking and driving simulator and police work with youth volunteers.
• FY2024. The report lists 69,894.47 received in the year and 97,029.84 since 2022. It certifies 0.00 expended, 0.00 encumbered and 97,029.84 on hand. It says the Township funded no programs. The account agrees.
• FY2025. The report lists 15,941.70 received and 112,971.54 since 2022. It certifies 14,353.12 expended, 7,485.95 encumbered and 91,132.47 on hand. It puts all 14,353.12 in the Municipal Alliance anti-substance abuse program and reports 229 participants served.
• FY2026. The report lists 21,490.42 received and 134,461.96 since 2022. It certifies 2,850.00 expended, 0.00 encumbered and 131,611.96 on hand. It puts the 2,850.00 in the same Municipal Alliance program.

Each year's spending figure ties to the account to the cent. The labels do not.

What the FY2025 program paid for

The FY2025 report names one program. The account paid three things in the year.

Purchase order 25-01100 pays 6,300.00 to a vendor named Township of Lyndhurst DEA Account. It ships to the Police Department. Its description reads REALLOCATE DEA EXPENDITURE and SHOULD HAVE BEEN CHARGED TO GRANT, and it names an earlier order to Seton Hall University. The Seton Hall invoice attached to it bills the Police Department 6,300.00 for 14 officers at 450.00 each. The course is a certificate program titled Operational Readiness for Police Officers, Practical Strategies for Addressing Opioid Use Disorder and Co-occurring Conditions. The invoice says payment is "Subject to Receipt of Opioid Settlement Disbursement Funding" and asks for checks payable to Zschool, LLC. Check 2696 paid the order on 05/06/2025. The officer list the invoice says is attached was not produced.

Purchase order 25-01089 pays Dave & Buster's 6,776.42 for a LEAD GRADUATION TRIP 5/16/25. Check 2613 paid it on 05/06/2025.

Purchase order 25-00806 line 2 pays Unite Corporation 1,276.70 for a Municipal Alliance event. Check 2413 paid it on 03/25/2025.

The three payments make the certified 14,353.12 to the cent. The report names no police course and no graduation trip. Reported a police course and arcade trip as Alliance work.

The graduation trips

The vendor report for Dave & Buster's runs from 01/01/2018 to 08/31/2026. The first payment the Township ever made to the company came from the settlement account. A second order, 25-01090, LEAD GRADUATION TRIP 5/15/25, for 7,485.95, has been open since 04/15/2025. The FY2025 report certifies it as encumbered. It was still open on 08/31/2026.

The next year the Township paid Dave & Buster's 7,457.36 for the L.E.A.D. graduation of 05/18/2026, check 4785 on 04/14/2026. That payment came from its own line, Police OE L.E.A.D. Expenses. The record does not spell out what L.E.A.D. stands for or describe the program. A graduation trip to an arcade is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. No evidence-based program that an arcade outing serves is documented, and no listed use covers it. Paid 6,776.42 for a graduation trip to Dave & Buster's.

The Municipal Alliance bill

Unite Corporation bills the Township for a Municipal Alliance event every year. The vendor report shows which account paid each bill.

In 2025 one invoice, 315897494, was paid on the same day from two funds. In 2026 the whole bill moved to the settlement account under an order titled POLICE- MUNICIPAL ALLIANCE. Township money carried the same charge for three years before the settlement took it over. Moved a yearly Alliance bill from its own lines to the fund.

FY2026

The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 2,850.00 spent. The Unite Corporation payment of 06/03/2026 is the only payment from the account in that window, and it is the figure. The program it names is the Municipal Alliance program, and the payment is a Municipal Alliance charge.

The report certifies 131,611.96 on hand. That is the 134,461.96 received since 2022 less the 2,850.00 spent in FY2026. It leaves out the 14,353.12 the account paid in FY2025 and the 7,485.95 Dave & Buster's order that stayed open.

The 21,839.07 is the 14,353.12 paid in FY2025 plus the open order. Reported 21,839.07 spent or committed as still on hand.

The report also certifies 0.00 encumbered. The FY2025 report had certified the same Dave & Buster's order as 7,485.95 encumbered. The account and the vendor report show it open from 04/15/2025 through 08/31/2026, with no cancellation. Reported nothing encumbered with a 7,485.95 order open.

What the records do not show

The Township produced its settlement account, two vendor reports and the 6,300.00 order. It did not produce the entry that credited the DEA account, the earlier Seton Hall order, the list of the 14 officers, or the fate of the open Dave & Buster's order. It did not say whether any other account holds settlement money.

What should happen

The account paid 10,903.12 for a graduation outing and a yearly bill the Township's own lines carried before. The Township can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program. It can cancel the 7,485.95 order that has been open since 04/15/2025.

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.