Middle Township
Middle Township told the State its first 18,591.16 of opioid settlement spending was a prevention and harm reduction program, while its ledger shows community event supplies, a tent and Fatal Vision supplies, including orders from a giveaway vendor its own budget lines paid from 2021 to 2024.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Middle Township's reports certify nothing spent before FY2026. The first payment in its produced ledger is dated 09/26/2025. By 06/17/2026 it had spent 18,591.16.
- The FY2026 report certifies all of it as one new program, PREVENTION / AWARENESS, under Primary Prevention, with Harm Reduction and First Responders strategies. It names Police Administration as the officials who decided the spending.
- The ledger shows community event and engagement supplies from Foremost Promotions, a pop up tent and table cloth, and Fatal Vision event supplies. None of it went to naloxone, overdose response or responder training.
- From 12/2021 to 12/2024 the Township paid Foremost Promotions 15,347.31 from its own budget lines for giveaways and event items. Since 09/2025 only the settlement accounts have paid it.
- The same report certifies 129,218.71 on hand. That is every dollar the Township reports receiving, as if nothing had been spent.
- This project classifies 8,788.33 of the spending as non-conforming and 9,802.83 as unverified. None of it is documented as conforming.
Summary
Middle Township, Cape May County, State ID NJ133, reported receiving 129,218.71 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 books carry three settlement lines. Account G-06-10-G22-877-001 is titled 2022 National Opioid Settlement. Account G-06-10-G23-900-025 is titled Local Grant-Nationwide Opioid Settlement. Account G-06-10-G24-900-013 is titled, as printed, NAIONAL OPIOIDS SETTLEMENT. On 09/01/2025 the three held 56,007.77. By 09/10/2026 they held 37,416.61.
The Township's FY2026 report describes a prevention and awareness program. Its ledger shows event supplies, a tent and Fatal Vision supplies. Part of the money went to a vendor its own budget lines paid for giveaways and event items in each of the four years before. Read the Township's findings.
What the Township received
| Year | Received in the year | Received since 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 27,764.39 | 27,764.39 |
| FY2024 | 58,308.15 | 86,072.54 |
| FY2025 | 19,997.19 | 106,069.73 |
| FY2026 | 23,148.98 | 129,218.71 |
The FY2024 to FY2026 reports each list 0.00 of interest. The Township has not produced the revenue or cash account that records its receipts.
What it spent, and on what
| Payee and purchase | Account | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foremost Promotions, Community Event Supplies, purchase order 25-01883, check 88888 | G-06-10-G22-877-001 | 09/26/2025 | 2,228.39 |
| Sign A Rama, pop up tent and table cloth, purchase order 25-01961, check 88934 | G-06-10-G22-877-001 | 09/26/2025 | 1,920.83 |
| Innocorp, Ltd., Fatal Vision event supplies, purchase order 25-02435, check 89399 | G-06-10-G24-900-013 | 12/02/2025 | 7,882.00 |
| Foremost Promotions, Community Engagment Supplies, purchase order 26-01187, check 90596 | G-06-10-G22-877-001 | 06/17/2026 | 2,833.19 |
| Foremost Promotions, same order and check | G-06-10-G23-900-025 | 06/17/2026 | 3,726.75 |
| Total | 18,591.16 |
Purchase order 26-01187 took the last 2,833.19 on the 2022 line and charged the rest of the order to the 2023 line. No payment posts on any of the three lines after 06/17/2026 through 09/10/2026.
This project classifies the three Foremost Promotions payments, 8,788.33, as non-conforming. The Township's own budget lines paid the same vendor for giveaways and event items before, and no evidence-based prevention program using the items is documented. It classifies the tent, 1,920.83, and the Fatal Vision supplies, 7,882.00, as unverified, 9,802.83 in all. The record does not show how either is used, and an abatement use is not ruled out. No payment is documented as conforming.
What the Township told the State each year
The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30.
| Year | Spent | Encumbered | On hand | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | none given | none given | None. The Township said it would begin a strategic plan. |
| FY2024 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 86,072.54 | No program funded |
| FY2025 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 106,069.73 | No new program funded |
| FY2026 | 18,591.16 | 0.00 | 129,218.71 | PREVENTION / AWARENESS |
FY2023 to FY2025 agree with the books for the 2022 line, which shows no charge from 01/01/2022 until 09/26/2025. The 2023 and 2024 lines were produced only from 09/01/2025.
FY2026's spending figure ties to the five payments to the cent, and nothing was open at year end. Its program description and its on-hand figure do not match the books. The sections below take each in turn.
The FY2026 program
The report lists one new program, PREVENTION / AWARENESS, funded and launched on 09/26/2025 at 18,591.16, all of it spent. The funding date is the date of the first two checks. The block names Middle Township as the only recipient. It describes the program as open discussions "at events and during LEAD programs" to make youth and the public aware of the dangers of opioids. It reports 1,000 people served.
It files the program under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training, with Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention as a second category. It names three Schedule B strategies: Prevent Misuse of Opioids, Prevent Overdose Deaths and Other Harms (Harm Reduction), and First Responders.
The five payments that make the figure are community event and engagement supplies, a tent and table cloth, and Fatal Vision event supplies. Exhibit E's harm reduction uses center on naloxone, overdose education and syringe services. Its First Responders category adds fentanyl education and wellness services for responders. None of the five payments is for any of these. Prevention education can be a listed use, but the record documents only supplies. It holds no prevention curriculum, no record of the discussions or the materials handed out, and nothing behind the 1,000 people served. Certified event supplies and a tent as opioid prevention.
The same order, a new funding source
The Township's vendor history for Foremost Promotions lists every payment to the vendor from 01/01/2018 to 09/10/2026. It shows an order in every year from 2021 to 2026.
| Ordered | Purchase order | Description as printed | Paid | Account | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/13/2021 | 22102702 | community relation giveaway | 02/23/2022 | 1-01-25-240-240-258 | 2,577.36 |
| 07/07/2022 | 22-01535 | color changing cups, glow bracelets, stress balls, shipping | 08/01/2022 | T-28-56-887-001-711, National Night Out | 963.12 |
| 09/09/2022 | 22-02107 | Promotional Items for SSU | 12/30/2022 | 2-01-25-240-240-258 | 2,450.68 |
| 01/30/2023 | 23-00242 | Promotional Items for SSU | 06/05/2023 | 3-01-25-240-240-258 | 3,125.54 |
| 10/03/2023 | 23-02237 | Community Event Items | 04/22/2024 | 3-01-25-240-240-228 | 1,815.72 |
| 08/29/2024 | 24-02040 | event items, two invoices | 12/16/2024 | 4-01-25-240-240-228 | 4,414.89 |
| Township budget lines | 15,347.31 | ||||
| 09/09/2025 | 25-01883 | Community Event Supplies | 09/26/2025 | Settlement, 2022 line | 2,228.39 |
| 06/11/2026 | 26-01187 | Community Engagment Supplies | 06/17/2026 | Settlement, 2022 and 2023 lines | 6,559.94 |
| Settlement lines | 8,788.33 |
The 258 lines are titled Other Equipment and Supplies and the 228 lines Other Prof. Consult and Special Svcs. Through the 2024 order every dollar came from those lines and the National Night Out account. From the 09/09/2025 order every dollar came from the settlement lines. No other account has paid the vendor since 12/16/2024.
The print gives only the line titles. This project reads the 25-240 code as the police budget, following the State's standard municipal budget numbering. That attribution is inference. The FY2026 report itself names Police Administration as the officials who decided the spending. The produced records do not itemize the 2025 and 2026 orders, so whether they bought the same goods as the earlier ones is also inference. The record does not show whether the Township reduced its own appropriations. Moved a yearly event order from its budget to the fund.
The tent is different. The Township has bought signs, banners and vehicle graphics from Sign A Rama on other lines since 2017, but the vendor history shows no tent before the settlement order.
The on-hand figure
The FY2026 report certifies 129,218.71 received since 2022 and 18,591.16 spent in the year. The three earlier reports each certify 0.00 spent. The same report certifies 129,218.71 of unspent and uncommitted money on hand, the received total to the cent. Received less spent is 110,627.55.
The 18,591.16 left the settlement lines before 06/30/2026. For 129,218.71 to be on hand when the report was filed, receipts after the year closed would have had to make up the spending to the cent. The FY2024 and FY2025 reports also set the on-hand figure equal to the received total, which held while nothing had been spent. Certified 129,218.71 on hand, as if nothing was spent.
What the records do not show yet
- The purchase orders and invoices for the Foremost Promotions, Sign A Rama and Innocorp orders, so what each bought is not itemized.
- A vendor history for Innocorp, Ltd.
- Any record of the discussions, the materials handed out, the LEAD sessions or the 1,000 people served.
- Activity on the 2023 and 2024 settlement lines before 09/01/2025.
- The revenue or cash account. On 09/01/2025 the three settlement lines held 56,007.77. The FY2025 report certified 106,069.73 on hand. The record does not show where the other 50,061.96 was held.
What should happen
The settlement lines paid 8,788.33 to a vendor whose giveaway and event orders the Township's own budget lines carried from 2021 to 2024. The Township can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program. It can document how the tent and the Fatal Vision supplies are used, or restore those sums as well.
The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2026 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.