North Bergen Township
North Bergen Township spent 113,445.07 of its opioid settlement money on a police K-9 vehicle, LEAD Day shirts and pizza, and Municipal Alliance payroll that other accounts had carried, and told the State the vehicle was overdose harm reduction.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- North Bergen Township spent 65,098.66 of its settlement money on a 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility for a K-9 unit and the K9 transport equipment fitted to it.
- It told the State the purchase was a Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention program.
- The same purchase order charged the rest of the vehicle to the Township's federal forfeiture account, which was buying police vehicles and the same K9 upfit equipment that year.
- The settlement account paid LEAD Day t-shirts and pizza in 2025. The Township's alliance accounts paid for the same purchases the years before and after.
- It paid 36,090.66 of Municipal Alliance payroll that Drug Alliance Program and Township budget money had paid in 2019 to 2021.
- The FY2026 report says the Township holds 0.00 of unspent settlement money. The books hold at least 65,459.15 of unspent cash.
Each of the three uses also ran on the Township's other accounts.
Summary
North Bergen Township, Hudson County, reported receiving 217,986.20 in opioid settlement money from 2022 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, G-02-22-723-000-0010, paid 113,445.07 from 01/02/2025 to 11/20/2025. It paid nothing before 01/02/2025 and nothing after 11/20/2025 through 09/02/2026.
| Use | Amount |
|---|---|
| Ford Police Interceptor Utility, settlement share | 33,522.65 |
| K9 upfit for the vehicle, net of discount | 31,576.01 |
| Municipal Alliance payroll, 19 journals | 36,090.66 |
| LEAD Day t-shirts | 11,420.75 |
| LEAD Day pizza | 835.00 |
| Paid through 09/02/2026 | 113,445.07 |
This project classifies all 113,445.07 as non-conforming. None of it is unverified and none of it is conforming. Read the Township's findings.
The K-9 vehicle
The FY2025 report lists a new program, North Bergen Police Department K-9 Unit. It describes the program as the purchase of a trained drug-sniffing K9 and its accessories, aimed at drug distribution. It calls the purchase an investment toward future law enforcement activities and says success will be measured by the number of seizures and community events. It adds that the vehicle needed to transport the canine was bought through a state contract.
The report files the program under the primary category Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention. It certifies 65,098.66 encumbered. The FY2026 report updates the program with no modifications and certifies 65,098.66 spent.
The settlement account paid for a vehicle and its equipment.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase order 25-02182, 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility, FOR K9 VEHICLE, check 2659, 08/15/2025 | 33,522.65 |
| Purchase order 25-02181, Tropic Window Tinting, K9 upfit FOR POLICE VEHICLES, check 2671, 10/08/2025 | 31,576.01 |
| Certified spent, FY2026 | 65,098.66 |
The two payments make the certified figure to the cent. Exhibit E's First Responders category adds two uses to the first-responder items in sections C, D and H: education about fentanyl and other drugs, and wellness services for first responders. No listed use in C, D, H or I covers a police vehicle, and no overdose program using this vehicle is documented. Certified a police K-9 vehicle as overdose harm reduction.
Forfeiture money bought the same things
Purchase order 25-02182 buys one vehicle for 45,749.11. It charges 73.28 percent, 33,522.65, to the settlement account and 26.72 percent, 12,226.46, to the federal Equitable Sharing account. Both shares paid the same Nielsen Ford invoice on 08/15/2025.
The Equitable Sharing account received 1,959,018.75 of US Treasury DOJ forfeiture money on 11/20/2024. In 2025 it paid for police vehicles and for the K-9 unit.
- 05/07/2025. 479,373.00 to United Ford on a Ford PIU AWD order, and 272,176.48 net to Nielsen Ford for Ford Explorers.
- Purchase orders 25-01525 and 25-01526, encumbered 02/26/2025, for the same three Tropic Window Tinting K9 upfit items the settlement order buys, at the same 46 percent contract discount.
- 10/08/2025. Check 1210 paid order 25-01526 from Equitable Sharing on the day check 2671 paid the settlement order. Check 1209 paid Shallow Creek Kennels 9,200.00 for a dual purpose police service order and 600.00 for an import tariff fee.
The Township was buying police vehicles and K-9 equipment with forfeiture money in the same months. The settlement account paid 65,098.66 of the same kind of purchase. Split a police vehicle with federal forfeiture money.
LEAD Day
The settlement account paid Stan's Sports Center 10,082.75 for 775 LEAD t-shirts and 1,338.00 for 150 LEAD staff t-shirts for LEAD Day 2025. It paid Feeding Our Children 835.00 for 35 pizzas delivered for LEAD Day on 05/28/2025. The reports describe the Township's LEAD program as one with an emphasis on student tutoring.
The Township's vendor histories show the same purchases on its alliance accounts before and after 2025.
| Year | Purchase | Account | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | LEAD staff t-shirts and LEAD t-shirts | Match Drug Alliance | 794.00 and 12,890.00 |
| 2022 | L.E.A.D t-shirts | FY 2022 Drug Alliance Program | 2,975.00 |
| 2023 | L.E.A.D. t-shirts | FY 2023 Drug Alliance Program | 10,312.00 |
| 2024 | LEAD Day order | CY 2024 Municipal Alliance Match | 1,191.00 |
| 2024 | Pizza | FY 2024 Drug Alliance Program | 360.00 and 391.00 |
| 2025 | LEAD t-shirts, staff t-shirts, pizza | Settlement account | 12,255.75 |
| 2026 | LEAD t-shirts and staff t-shirts | CY 2025 Municipal Alliance Match | 10,408.00 and 1,338.00 |
| 2026 | Pizza, the same two lines | CY 2025 Municipal Alliance Match | 460.00 and 375.00 |
The staff shirt order is 1,338.00 on both sides of the move. The 2026 pizza lines are the 2025 prices to the cent. Settlement money paid one year of costs the Township's alliance accounts carried before and after. Moved LEAD Day costs off the Alliance for one year.
Alliance payroll
The settlement account paid 19 Municipal Alliance payroll journals from 01/02/2025 to 11/20/2025, 36,090.66 in total. The FY2025 and FY2026 reports certify them as the North Bergen Prevention Coalition. The FY2025 report gives the program a launch date of 09/01/1991 and says the money reimburses the Township for program expenses, primarily salaries.
ADP payroll registers show the journals are pay for department 000717. From 2019 to 2021 the same department's payroll ran on the Drug Alliance Program accounts and on Municipal Alliance match accounts funded from the Township budget.
- The CY 2019 Drug Alliance Match took 36,000.00 of cash match from the budget and paid payroll.
- The CY 2020 Municipal Alliance Match took 22,874.00 from the current fund and 13,192.00 of adopted budget match, and paid payroll.
- The CY 2021 Municipal Alliance Match took 22,874.00 from the budget appropriation and paid payroll of 1,477.76 a pay date.
A prevention coalition can be a listed use. This payroll was an existing cost that moved onto settlement money in 2025. The Township has not produced the department's payroll accounts for 2022 to 2024. Moved 36,090.66 of Alliance payroll onto settlement money.
What the Township told the State
| Report | Certified spent | Books in the same period | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Agree |
| FY2024 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Agree |
| FY2025 | 32,628.66 | 32,628.66 | Agree to the cent |
| FY2026 | 80,816.41 | 80,816.41 | Agree to the cent |
The totals tie. The labels do not. The FY2025 report certifies 32,628.66 for the Prevention Coalition, which is 20,372.91 of payroll and 12,255.75 of LEAD Day shirts and pizza. It certifies 65,098.66 encumbered for the K-9 Unit, the two vehicle orders open at 06/30/2025. The FY2026 report certifies the K-9 Unit at 65,098.66 spent and the Prevention Coalition at 15,717.75.
The FY2024 report lists 172,548.89 unspent on hand against 139,856.07 received through 06/30/2024. 172,548.89 is the Township's settlement revenue through 09/06/2024, after the year closed and before any money was spent.
FY2026
The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 36,984.34 received, 80,816.41 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 0.00 unspent on hand.
The received and spent figures tie to the books. The last two do not. The report's own figures leave 104,541.13, the 217,986.20 it says the Township received less the 113,445.07 the four reports certify as spent.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified unspent on hand, FY2026 | 0.00 |
| Settlement appropriation balance, Budget Detail Inquiry, 07/08/2026 | 98,522.63 |
| Settlement cash received through 06/16/2026 | 178,904.22 |
| Spent from the account | 113,445.07 |
| Cash unspent | 65,459.15 |
Four more receipts of 31,006.85 arrived on 07/24/2026, before the report was last updated on 08/21/2026. Certified zero on hand with 98,522.63 left unspent.
A revenue journal of 12/31/2024 moved 7,629.35 out of the settlement revenue account, described as a reclass to unappropriated funds. The records produced do not show what the Township did with it.
What should happen
Every dollar the account has paid went to a police vehicle and its equipment, to shirts and food the alliance accounts carried before and after, or to payroll other money had carried. The Township can restore the 113,445.07 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.