Mahwah Township

Summary

Mahwah Township, Bergen County, reports receiving 150,268.28 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 settlement money arrives in revenue account 01-192-10-502-023. It is spent from the current-year appropriation, 01-201-41-502-200, the prior-year reserve, 01-203-41-502-200, and the grant reserve, 01-213-41-003-000. Lines ending 201 and 023 carry the K-9 unit. Line 202 carries the Municipal Alliance.

From 10/17/2023 to 08/18/2026 the Township paid 85,250.39 on those lines. A further 21,027.93 was charged to account 01-204-55-000 against an order placed on the settlement line. The Township did not produce that account, so the record does not show which money paid it. On 09/02/2026 the K-9 line still held 3,985.21 of open blanket orders. Read the Township's findings.

Where the money went

The total includes the Elite payment, charged to account 01-204-55-000, which the Township did not produce. Without it the settlement lines paid 85,250.39.

This project classes the K-9 unit and the police equipment as non-conforming, 27,250.39 paid from the settlement lines and the 21,027.93 Elite payment on an order placed there. No overdose program using the dog or the equipment is documented. The Township's own budget paid for its earlier K-9. None of these purchases is among the uses Exhibit E lists. The Alliance payments, 58,000.00, are unverified. The reports describe education in schools and outreach to young people, which Exhibit E lists, but no program record, contract or deliverable for the payments was produced. Nothing is classed conforming.

What the Township told the State

The State's reporting year runs 07/01 to 06/30.

FY2023. The Township reported 30,349.95 received and 0.00 spent as of 06/30/2023. It listed one planned program, Opioid K-9, funded 9/2023 at 20,000.00. The account reports show nothing paid before 10/17/2023, so report and books agree on spending.

FY2024. The Township certified 55,438.07 received, 34,222.62 spent, 13,651.51 encumbered and 27,373.89 unspent on hand. It listed a new program, MMA, the Mahwah Municipal Alliance, at 23,000.00, for education of children and young adults. It updated Opioid K-9 at 11,222.62. The accounts paid 35,947.44 in the year.

FY2025. The Township certified 30,017.05 received, 37,716.80 spent, 6,000.00 encumbered and 16,982.71 unspent on hand. It updated MMA at 35,000.00 and Opioid K-9 at 2,716.80, and answered No when asked whether it funded any new program. The accounts paid 40,287.35 in the year. The received figure equals the eight deposits on the revenue account in the year to the cent. The 6,000.00 encumbered equals the two 3,000.00 lines added to K-9 blanket orders on the 2025 appropriation on 06/04/2025. Another 1,733.20 on three K-9 blanket orders stayed open on the grant reserve at 06/30/2025.

FY2026. The State published the report on 10/01/2026. The Township certified 34,463.21 received, 49,288.61 spent, 6,396.26 encumbered and 22,643.99 unspent on hand. It listed one program for the year, the Opioid K-9 update, at 49,288.61, described as continued training and care of the K-9. It gave its goal as meeting the K-9's diet restrictions, well checks and vehicular safety requirements. The report also reprints the FY2025 Alliance update.

The produced settlement accounts paid 7,736.44 in FY2026. That is the laptop, 2,713.79, the badge, 147.75, and 4,874.90 of K-9 food, care and supplies. The Elite payment of 21,027.93 on 04/21/2026, charged to account 01-204-55-000, would bring the total to 28,764.37. The Township did not produce that account or its 2026 current-year account, so the record does not show whether other payments in the year make up the rest of the 49,288.61. This project makes no finding on the FY2026 spending figure.

A police drug dog filed as harm reduction

On 09/07/2023 the Council adopted Resolution 345-23, Authorization of a Purchase of a New K-9 Dog for the Mahwah Police Department. Companion Resolution 344-23 inserted 20,000.00 of settlement money into the 2023 budget.

The FY2023 report lists the program. It names the primary problem as distribution of opioids. It says the K-9 will be trained to uncover the presence of opioids so officers can get the drugs off the streets. It gives the target population as opioid distributors and the measure of success as the amount of confiscations. It files the program under Harm Reduction.

Exhibit E's harm reduction category covers naloxone, overdose response education, syringe service programs, testing and mobile harm reduction units. No listed use covers a police drug detection dog, and no overdose program using the dog is documented.

The FY2024 and FY2025 reports certify 11,222.62 and 2,716.80 for the program. The two figures equal nine payments to the cent: the dog, its equipment and exams, and seven K-9 food, veterinary, kennel and seminar payments in early 2025. Certified a police drug dog as harm reduction.

The FY2024 update describes its 11,222.62 as "Continued training and care of opioid K-9." The figure is the acquisition. Check 92481 paid East Coast K-9 Academy 9,950.00 on 10/17/2023 for the purchase of the K-9. Check 92607 paid 1,272.62 on 10/31/2023 for fourteen K-9 equipment invoices and two exams. Resolution 345-23 records that the Department had been without a K-9 since 2021. The FY2024 update reports the dog's purchase as continued care.

K-9 payments left out of two reports

The FY2024 report certifies 34,222.62. That is the dog, 9,950.00, the equipment and exams, 1,272.62, and the Alliance, 23,000.00. The FY2025 report certifies 37,716.80. That is the Alliance, 35,000.00, and the seven K-9 payments on the grant reserve line, 2,716.80.

Both leave out the K-9 line of the prior-year reserve, 01-203-41-502-201. It made twelve K-9 payments in calendar 2024, for dog food, veterinary care and a kennel air conditioner.

The two amounts left out total 4,295.37, the PO Payment total the account prints for 2024. Left 4,295.37 of K-9 payments out of two reports.

The K-9 unit before the settlement

Mahwah ran a police K-9 unit on its own budget. Budget line 9-01-F01-231, Police K-9 Unit, was appropriated 3,850.00 in 2019. It paid 2,520.97 that year for the handler's K-9 supply reimbursements and a 1,294.82 emergency dental surgery. It paid 240.32 in 2020 and cancelled its balance on 12/31/2020. Resolution 377-21 records that Remco, the Department's sixth K-9, retired in July 2021.

Resolution 345-23 recites that the Department has "a long tradition of having a K-9 dog," that the Chief of Police wants to re-institute the K-9 program, and that the Township is able to use the settlement money to buy a new K-9 "at no cost to the taxpayers."

After the dog arrived, the handler's K-9 food was reimbursed from budget account 01-201-25-240-231 three times, 488.63 in all, from 12/05/2023 to 02/06/2024. From 02/23/2024 the same monthly reimbursements were paid from the settlement line. Through 08/18/2026 the settlement lines paid 24,332.86 for the dog and its upkeep. The Township did not produce any K-9 budget line for 2022 to 2026. That the settlement money replaced spending the Township's budget would otherwise carry is this project's reading of these records. Moved the police K-9 unit off the Township budget.

Police gear

The Township buys its police badges from Sun Badge Co. and has its police vehicles upfitted by Elite Emergency Lights. Both vendors' histories show those costs on other Township accounts, with one order each placed on a settlement line.

• Sun Badge. 8,453.50 of badge orders from 2019 to 2021 and 12,257.85 paid from 2022 to 06/09/2026. One badge, 147.75, was paid from a settlement line on 02/06/2026. The Township paid the same vendor 420.00 on 11/12/2025 and 420.00 on 06/09/2026 from a budget account.
• Elite Emergency Lights. 231,851.91 paid from 06/20/2023 to 04/21/2026. Purchase order 19433, a police K9 patrol kit with warning lights, was placed on the K-9 settlement line at 22,424.00 on 10/17/2025. It was still open there at 12/31/2025. Check 15211 paid it on 04/21/2026, 21,027.93 charged to account 01-204-55-000 and 5,251.00 to a budget account. The Township did not produce account 01-204-55-000, so the record does not show whether settlement money paid the 21,027.93.

The K-9 line also paid 2,713.79 for a Getac rugged laptop and warranty on 12/30/2025 and 55.99 for Ford Explorer window deflectors on 07/07/2026. No overdose program using either is documented.

The FY2026 unspent figure

The FY2026 report certifies 22,643.99 unspent and uncommitted on hand. The account reports print three balances that add to it.

The second and third lines are one reserve at two dates. On 06/30/2026 the two reserves held 15,206.40. The revenue account also held 3,141.61 of 2026 receipts with no budget entry, 20,199.16 by 08/04/2026. No date in the record gives 22,643.99. Counted one reserve twice in its FY2026 unspent figure.

What should happen

The Township can return the 27,250.39 its settlement lines paid for the K-9 unit and police equipment to the settlement fund and stop charging K-9 costs to it. It can show which money paid the 21,027.93 Elite invoice, and return it too if it came from the fund. For the Alliance, it can show the programs the 58,000.00 paid for.

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