New Providence Borough

Summary

New Providence Borough, Union County, reports receiving 54,998.56 in opioid settlement money from 2022 through 06/30/2026. The money may be spent only on opioid remediation. Exhibit E of the national settlements lists uses in treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction. The list is not closed, but a use it does not name needs a documented, evidence-based program. The money must add to local spending, not replace it.

The Borough runs its settlement spending through one account, G-02-40-739-022-003000, National Opioid Settlement-Continuous. Through 09/08/2026 the account shows 33,145.99 charged.

This project classifies 19,716.00 as not conforming, 4,950.00 as conforming and 8,479.99 as unverified. The newsletter fails on the record. The Borough's own printing line paid for it every year before, and the reports certify its whole cost as an awareness campaign. The postcards, postage, banner and EMS reimbursement are unverified because the record does not show what they bought or mailed. Read the Borough's findings.

The newsletter and the calendar

Courier Printing Corp prints the Borough's annual calendar and, since 2024, its newsletter. The Courier vendor history lists every order paid from 01/01/2018 through 08/28/2026.

The large order comes once a year. It is opened between September and November and paid between October and the following January. The last one on the printing line, purchase order 23-02156, calendars, was opened 11/20/2023 and paid 6,012.00 on 01/10/2024. The first one on the settlement account, purchase order 24-02169, news letter, was opened 11/05/2024 and paid 6,012.00 on 01/28/2025. Same vendor, same season, same amount to the cent. No account but the settlement account has paid Courier since.

Scott Hale designed and printed the newsletter before Courier did. The printing line carries his newsletter editions from 2019 through 2023, three editions at 2,820.00 each in 2023. In 2024 Courier printed and Hale's 500.00 design charges stayed on the printing line. Hale invoice 7655 was paid on 05/27/2025 in two parts, 500.00 to the printing line on check 268573 and 1,795.00 and 375.00 to the settlement account on check 10599. In 2026 one 500.00 newsletter charge went to the fund on 03/24/2026 and the next went to the printing line on 07/22/2026.

From 2019 to 2023 the Municipal Alliance reimbursed the printing line for newsletter issues six times, 437.50 or 290.00 an issue, 2,182.50 in all. The reimbursements stop after 10/11/2023. The printing line's newsletter and calendar charges fell from 8,460.00 of Hale editions in 2023, plus the 6,012.00 calendar paid 01/10/2024, to one 500.00 Hale newsletter charge in 2025 and one in 2026. Moved the Borough newsletter off its own printing line.

The journal of 10/14/2024

Check 267539 paid Courier 2,420.00 for the fall 2024 newsletter from printing account 4-01-20-100-231-000000 on 10/08/2024. Six days later a journal captioned "CORRECT PO 24-00963," batch reference 657, credited the 2,420.00 back to the printing line and charged it to the settlement account. It is the only expenditure entry on the 2024 printing line. Nothing about the newsletter changed. Only the account charged changed. No record states a reason beyond the caption. Journaled a paid newsletter bill onto the settlement fund.

What the Borough told the State each year

The FY2023 report names Bernadette Cuccaro as the official authorized to report on the funds. The FY2026 report names her as the Borough's contact.

Every total ties to the books to the cent. So does every program figure. What the programs describe is the question.

• FY2023. Harm Reduction, naloxone for the volunteer EMS squad, Police and Schools, 107.49 spent. The ledger shows a reimbursement to New Providence EMS on check 10446. No invoice shows what it bought.
• FY2024. Drug Disposal, 2,400.00, and an Opioid Awareness Campaign described as a bi-annual postcard campaign, 2,050.00. The campaign is postcards from Scott Hale and postage. The postcard itself is not in the record.
• FY2025. The Opioid Awareness Campaign, now described as a "Bi-Annual postcard campaign combined with information in the annual borough calendar," 15,152.00, and Public Education in Our Schools, 2,550.00. The campaign figure is every charge in the year except the school assembly. 10,602.00 of it is the newsletter: Courier's 6,012.00 order, Hale's 1,795.00 and 375.00, and the 2,420.00 journal. The other 4,550.00 is a 1,050.00 Hale printing charge and 3,500.00 of postage. Counted 10,602.00 of newsletter bills as opioid awareness.
• FY2026. One update to the Opioid Awareness Campaign, 9,114.00. See below.

The FY2025 report lists the campaign under new programs, funded and launched 09/10/2024 for one year. The FY2024 report had listed the same campaign as launched 01/24/2024 for five years or more.

The reports' receipts run well above the Borough's revenue accounts. The FY2026 report certifies 54,998.56 received since 2022. The five settlement revenue accounts the Borough produced, G-02-03-050 to G-02-03-054, show 32,587.17 received from 07/28/2022 through 05/28/2026, and the 2026 account shows nothing more until 07/15/2026. The produced records do not account for the difference.

Purchases that hold up

The FY2024 report certifies Drug Disposal at 2,400.00 and names the purchase order. Check 10535 paid C2R Global Manufacturing 2,400.00 on 06/25/2024 for packets the Police Department and the Municipal Alliance hand out. The FY2025 report certifies a school assembly at 2,550.00. Check 10586 paid Stephen Hill 2,500.00 and 50.00 on 04/08/2025 for a talk about his own addiction to 850 high school students. The vendor histories show no other payment to either vendor since 01/01/2018. Drug disposal and school-based prevention are among the uses Exhibit E lists. Drug disposal and the school assembly tie to the books.

FY2026

The State published the Borough's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 10,398.53 received, 9,114.00 spent, nothing encumbered and 25,089.61 unspent on hand.

Its one program block updates the Opioid Awareness Campaign at 9,114.00 spent. It reports 13,500 participants served and describes the awareness as how to prevent opioid misuse. The FY2023 report gives the Borough's population as 13,500.

The account paid three bills in the year.

The three bills make the certified figure to the cent. All three are the Borough newsletter. The report certifies the whole cost of the publication as an opioid awareness campaign. Part of an issue may carry opioid information. No record shows how much. Certified the Borough newsletter as an opioid campaign.

The received figure, 10,398.53, is the cash total of one revenue account, the 2025 account. It leaves out 829.10 the Borough received on 05/22/2026 into its 2026 account. Left an 829.10 receipt out of the FY2026 received figure.

After the year closed, on 09/01/2026, the account paid 1,772.50 for a double sided street banner with custom design and delivery. The banner's content is not in the record.

What should happen

The settlement account carries 19,716.00 of newsletter costs, a publication the Borough's own printing line paid for in every year through 2024. The Borough can restore that money to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program.

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.