Town of Morristown
The Town of Morristown paid 14,642.50 from its opioid settlement accounts, yet told the State it had 369,592.00 encumbered in FY2025 and spent 100,000.00 on a treatment grant in FY2026, with no order and no payment on the books to match.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Morristown told the State it had 369,592.00 appropriated or encumbered at the end of FY2025. That is more than the 359,374.53 the same report says the Town had ever received.
- Every opioid account the Town produced shows 0.00 encumbered.
- The FY2026 report certifies a 100,000.00 grant to a women's recovery residence. No account shows a payment to it. The account that holds the money shows 0.00 spent.
- The FY2025 report certifies 50,394.00 spent. The accounts paid 3,905.00 that year.
- The report describes defibrillators and a police training course. Neither appears on the books.
- The FY2026 report claims 121,628.55 more on hand than the Town's own figures allow.
- The Town's reports put its receipts 25,770.14 below its own revenue trail.
- The FY2024 drug response program was mostly apparel.
- Through 05/28/2026 the accounts paid 14,642.50. The Town took in 451,874.09 through 12/31/2025.
Summary
The Town of Morristown, Morris County, took in 451,874.09 of opioid settlement money from 08/25/2022 through 12/31/2025, according to its revenue trail. 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 Town produced four appropriation accounts, G-02-22-770-000-020 through G-02-25-770-000-020, printed as of 05/28/2026. Only the 2022 account has ever paid anything. It paid ten lines totaling 14,642.50, the last on 03/27/2025. No account shows an open order.
Its reports to the Department of Human Services describe much more than that. The FY2025 report certifies 50,394.00 spent and 369,592.00 encumbered. The FY2026 report certifies 100,000.00 spent. Read the Town's findings.
What the Town received
The revenue trail prints one account for each calendar year.
| Year | Receipts | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2 | 48,697.67 |
| 2023 | 4 | 50,192.32 |
| 2024 | 14 | 249,870.14 |
| 2025 | 7 | 103,113.96 |
| Total | 27 | 451,874.09 |
No receipts after 12/31/2025 were produced.
What it spent
| Date | Payee | Purchase | Check | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/15/2024 | EMBRO (Fully Promoted) | Outreach apparel, project 7636 | 30538 | 4,860.00 |
| 02/15/2024 | EMBRO (Fully Promoted) | Outreach apparel, project 7637 | 30538 | 1,600.00 |
| 04/11/2024 | Galls LLC | Narcan | 30984 | 4,277.50 |
| 07/18/2024 | Lochness Medical Supplies | Single drug test strips | 31724 | 1,200.00 |
| 03/27/2025 | Galls LLC | Six invoices, purchase order 24-02878 | 33728 | 2,705.00 |
| Total | 14,642.50 |
The Narcan is a listed use. It is 4,277.50, or 29.2 percent of the spending. The apparel, 6,460.00 or 44.1 percent, is non-conforming. Apparel is not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no record says who wears it or what program uses it. The other 3,905.00 is unverified. The record does not say what the test strips were for, and the Galls invoices print only their numbers.
What the Town told the State
The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30.
| Report | Received in the year | Received since 2022 | Spent | Encumbered | Unspent on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 69,945.42 | 0.00 | not asked | not asked | |
| FY2024 | 173,002.97 | 242,948.39 | 10,737.50 | 0.00 | 261,910.24 |
| FY2025 | 116,426.14 | 359,374.53 | 50,394.00 | 369,592.00 | 269,592.00 |
| FY2026 | 66,729.42 | 426,103.95 | 100,000.00 | 0.00 | 386,601.00 |
FY2023. The report certifies 69,945.42 received and nothing spent. The revenue trail shows the same 69,945.42 by 06/30/2023 and no payment. Report and books agree.
FY2024. The report names one program, H.E.A.R.T. (Helping Everyone Achieve Results Together). It describes a police officer assigned to drug enforcement and community support, and files the program under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training. It certifies 10,737.50 spent. The two apparel orders and the Narcan order make that figure to the cent. Of that, 6,460.00 is outreach apparel. Certified 6,460.00 of apparel as a drug response program.
The report certifies 0.00 encumbered at Q7. The H.E.A.R.T. program block in the same report puts 10,000.00 encumbered. The books show one open order at 06/30/2024, 1,200.00 of test strips. FY2024 report gives 0.00 and 10,000.00 as encumbered.
The same report certifies 261,910.24 unspent on hand, 18,961.85 more than the 242,948.39 it says the Town ever received. Reported more unspent money than it had ever received.
FY2025. The report certifies 50,394.00 spent. It is the Medical Supply program at 21,594.00 and administrative expense at 28,800.00. It certifies 369,592.00 encumbered and 269,592.00 unspent on hand.
FY2026. The report certifies 100,000.00 spent on one program, "Funding to support Treatment Center," a one time grant to Ms. Wilson's House funded 10/01/2025. It certifies nothing encumbered and 386,601.00 unspent on hand. Received since 2022, less this year's 100,000.00, is 326,103.95. The on-hand figure is above that on the face of the report. Received since 2022, less all the spending the Town certified for FY2023 to FY2026, comes to 264,972.45. The certified unspent figure is 121,628.55 higher. Reported 121,628.55 more on hand than its reports allow.
The FY2025 encumbrance
The FY2025 report certifies 369,592.00 appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent in the year ending 06/30/2025. The same report puts lifetime receipts at 359,374.53. The encumbered figure is larger than everything the Town says it received.
The appropriation accounts tell the rest.
| Account | Appropriated | Expended | Encumbered |
|---|---|---|---|
| G-02-22-770-000-020 | 23,803.00 | 14,642.50 | 0.00 |
| G-02-23-770-000-020 | 21,247.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| G-02-24-770-000-020 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| G-02-25-770-000-020 | 105,811.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 150,861.75 | 14,642.50 | 0.00 |
No account carries an open order. At most 136,219.25 of appropriation was unspent at 06/30/2025. The certified figure is neither. The encumbered and unspent figures together are 639,184.00, which is 279,809.47 more than the Town says it received. Certified 369,592.00 encumbered with no order on the books.
The encumbered figure less the unspent figure is exactly 100,000.00. That is the amount the FY2026 report later certifies as spent on the Ms. Wilson's House grant, funded three months after FY2025 closed.
What FY2025 counted as spent
The Medical Supply program names the Police Department as recipient and Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention as its category. It describes portable defibrillators and medical gloves, funded 07/18/2024 at 249,863.00, with 21,594.00 spent. The administrative expense is described as a four hour online course for police officers, "Operational Readiness for Police Officers."
The accounts paid 3,905.00 in the year. Lochness Medical Supplies was paid 1,200.00 for drug test strips on 07/18/2024. Galls LLC was paid 2,705.00 on 03/27/2025 for six invoices. No defibrillator and no course payment appears on any account the Town produced.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified spent, FY2025 | 50,394.00 |
| Paid from the opioid accounts, 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 | 3,905.00 |
| Difference | 46,489.00 |
Certified 50,394.00 spent in FY2025, books show 3,905.00.
Receipts
The FY2024 report certifies 173,002.97 received between 07/01/2023 and 06/30/2024. The revenue trail shows 198,772.81 in those dates. Each later report adds its year's receipts to the prior total, so the 25,769.84 gap carries forward. The FY2026 report certifies 426,103.95 received since 2022. The trail shows 451,874.09 by 12/31/2025, before any 2026 receipt. Reported 25,770.14 less in receipts than its books show.
FY2026
The report gives the grant's purpose as treatment and supportive housing for women in recovery, 18 women served. Recovery housing is a listed use. It dates the grant 10/01/2025.
The Town's accounts were printed on 05/28/2026. From 07/01/2025 to that date, no opioid account shows a payment or an order to Ms. Wilson's House or anyone else. The 2025 account runs from 01/01/2025 to 05/28/2026. It holds the 105,811.00 appropriation, the only balance large enough for the grant. It shows 0.00 spent and 0.00 encumbered.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified spent, FY2026 | 100,000.00 |
| Paid from the opioid accounts, 07/01/2025 to 05/28/2026 | 0.00 |
Certified a 100,000.00 treatment grant the books never paid.
The report lists 18 as its reduction in opioid-related incidents. It also says, "After this funding was provided, the treatment center closed due to funding issues." It says the Town was unable to track the impact.
What should happen
The Town can show the State and the public the orders behind the 369,592.00 it certified as encumbered, the payments behind the 50,394.00 it certified as spent in FY2025, and the 100,000.00 payment to Ms. Wilson's House. If those records do not exist, the reports do not describe the accounts.
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.