Passaic County

Summary

Passaic County reported receiving 3,612,431.59 in opioid settlement money through 06/30/2025, interest included. The national settlements direct the money to opioid remediation. Exhibit E lists uses such as treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction. The list is not exhaustive. A documented evidence-based program that addresses the epidemic also qualifies. The money must add to existing spending, not replace it.

The County's settlement accounts, the G-01-41-816-022 series, show 1,725,146.62 spent from 01/01/2022 to 05/29/2026. Vendor reports printed 08/28/2026 add 4,200.00 paid to two vendors after that date. Of the money spent, 793,000.00 went to a general contractor and 38,276.46 to furniture for the same building. Another 13,270.10 bought office furniture from the same vendor on an order that does not name a building. Another 768,562.15 is County salary and fringe. One line ties to a listed use, sober housing at 67,210.00. Provider training at 24,700.00 carries training captions, but no course record ties the invoices to a listed use.

Counting the 4,200.00 paid after 05/29/2026, the fund paid 1,729,346.62. This project classifies 67,210.00 of it as conforming, the sober housing. It classifies 844,703.80 as non-conforming, 48.8 percent of the total. That is the building, its furniture, the second furniture order and 157.24 of vehicle tracking. The other 817,432.82 is unverified, mostly the payroll.

The County's reports to the Department of Human Services certify the building money as a recovery program. Local reporting says the building opened as a multi-purpose County service center. The reports also count a sober housing contract in a year before it existed. They count one payroll quarter in two different years. The FY2024 report says the County held more unspent money than it had ever received. Read the County's findings.

The building

On 11/18/2024 the Board of County Commissioners adopted Resolution R-24-1051. It awards Delric Construction Co., Inc. a contract for 5,342,000.00 "for renovation of the Passaic County Johner Building at 11 Edgar Drive" in West Milford, after sealed bids under bid C-24-024. It describes the work as new finishes, new bathrooms, renovation of layout, mechanical systems, concrete stairs, ramps and new canopies. It states that 62 percent of the project is funded under federal COVID relief acts.

The Certification of Available Funds attached to the resolution splits the price across six accounts.

The bid documents describe "interior renovation of 11 Edgar Drive" over about 13,500 square feet. The construction plan, sheet A-101, labels session rooms, a nurse session room, a family session room, two group rooms, exam rooms and secure medication storage. They sit beside a nurse's suite, a doctor's office, a well child care clinic, training rooms and offices for the health officer and environmental inspectors. The plan does not name a recovery program. Addendum 2 attaches images of the police storage area, an area that could not be reached during the second walk-through.

Purchase order 24-07411 was issued by the County Engineering Department on 11/27/2024. The settlement account paid Application 00008 and its 362,178.72 share of Application 00009.

What the FY2025 report says the money was

The FY2025 report certifies a new program named Passaic County Recovery Program at 793,000.00 encumbered. It gives the funding date as 11/27/2024, the date of the purchase order. It describes "a recovery-focused hub in West Milford" with outpatient treatment, peer recovery coaching, linkage to medication assisted treatment and counseling, launching 03/16/2026. It gives the primary category as Primary Prevention, Education, and Training.

It says the money is a "One-time allocation for site construction." It gives the procurement method as a "grant-based allocation" from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund, with oversight by the County Advisory Council. The County's own records show a public works contract, bid and awarded by resolution, with the settlement account as one of six funding lines.

What the building became

The West Milford Messenger reported on 04/24/2026 that County and township officials opened the building on 04/22/2026 as the Highlands Regional Service Center. The paper described a 5.3 million County facility with three parts. A public health office and clinic offers screenings, immunizations and preventive care. A behavioral health services clinic offers mental health and substance use support. A senior nutrition site serves meals and runs programs for older residents. The paper reported that 85 percent of the cost came from federal and state sources, and it named the National Opioid Settlement among them. In February 2026 the same paper reported that the County Board of Commissioners had named 11 Edgar Drive the Highlands Regional Services Center, to serve as a satellite location for the County Department of Health Services. This is newspaper reporting, not a County record.

The plans and the reporting describe the same thing. It is a multi-purpose County service building. Part of it may serve people with opioid use disorder. No record produced names a recovery program for the building or allocates the settlement share, or any room, to one. Renovating and furnishing a building is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. This project classifies the building costs as non-conforming. Certified a County service center as a recovery hub.

The furniture and equipment

Purchase order 25-05582, captioned Furniture 11 Edgar Dr, paid Global Industries 173,006.48 on 04/14/2026. The settlement account carries 38,276.46 of it. One invoice on that order was split four ways, across capital ordinance 24-03, the current fund, the settlement account and a trust account, according to the County vendor report. A presentation system for the West Milford site holds 24,925.04 open on the settlement account beside 24,376.72 on the current fund. A second order from the same furniture vendor, 26-01301, paid 13,270.10 from the settlement account on 05/12/2026 for wall savers, lateral files and tables. It does not name a building. Paid 831,276.46 toward one County building.

Sober housing counted before it was ordered

The FY2023 report certifies 99,616.09 expended as of 06/30/2023. It lists a Sober Housing program at "$49,985.00 (encumbered)" with 0 clients seen.

The difference is the Sober Housing figure to the cent. The ledger holds no purchase order to Structured Recovery Residences until 23-05520, first encumbered 08/09/2023, after the year closed. It was first paid on 12/28/2023 and paid 17,485.00 in total, according to the vendor report. Counted 49,985.00 of sober housing ordered after year end.

The sober housing program itself ties to the books in the next two years. The FY2024 report certifies 32,305.00 and the FY2025 report certifies 34,905.00. Three quarterly payments make each figure to the cent. The FY2025 report says the program has ended.

One payroll quarter, two years

The County charges its staff salaries to the fund by quarterly journal. Journal reference 11115 posted 07/03/2024 and charged 50,503.60 for April to June 2024.

The FY2024 report certifies 210,335.84 expended for 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024. That figure matches the books to the cent when payroll is counted by the quarter worked. It includes reference 11115.

The FY2025 report certifies 247,589.86 for 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. That figure matches the books to the cent when payroll is counted by the date posted. It includes reference 11115 again.

The switch counts 50,503.60 twice. The January to June 2025 payroll posted on 10/01/2025 and 10/02/2025, in the FY2026 window, and falls in neither the FY2024 nor the FY2025 report. Certified the same 50,503.60 of payroll in two years.

More unspent than received

The FY2024 report lists 2,801,535.38 received since 2022. That figure already includes the 55,689.77 of interest the report lists. It lists 2,949,103.25 of unspent and uncommitted money on hand. That is 147,567.87 more than everything the County says it received, before any of the 309,951.93 it certified as spent in FY2023 and FY2024. On the County's own figures the most it could have held uncommitted was 2,424,315.00. Reported more money unspent than it ever received.

County payroll on the fund

Through 05/29/2026 the settlement account paid 768,562.15 of County salary and fringe benefits. That is 44.6 percent of what the account spent. The journals name the employees. The reports describe part of it as about 7 percent of the salary and fringe of the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director.

The County's strategic plan describes an Office of Recovery that runs outreach stations, screenings and Narcan distribution. The reports list Narcan kits distributed and people trained. No payroll register, time record or salary allocation report has been produced that ties any employee or pay period to that work. No record shows how the positions were paid before the settlement. Whether the payroll adds to County spending or replaces it cannot yet be tested. Charged 768,562.15 of County payroll to the fund.

A renewal moved onto the fund

Purchase order 25-05491 renewed Silent Passenger GPS vehicle tracking for 786.20 and split it across four accounts. The settlement account took 157.24. The County vendor report shows the same service bought every year from 2018 to 2025 on current fund, trust and other grant accounts. Split a yearly GPS tracking renewal onto the fund.

FY2026

The State published the FY2026 reports on 10/01/2026. The County's report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 1,346,210.53 spent, 237,723.04 encumbered and 33,187.42 of administrative expenses. The County's audit trail ends 05/29/2026. Through that date the account paid 1,268,093.43 in the year. June 2026 is not in the record, so the spent and encumbered figures cannot yet be tested to the cent.

The report updates the Passaic County Recovery Program at 844,546.56 spent in the year. It explains the change in four words, "Expenses are for construction." Its one performance measure reads "Under construction and licensing procedures." Its last update is dated 08/27/2026, four months after local reporting says the building opened.

The payments make the certified figure to the cent. They are the County's share of the renovation of a multi-purpose service building, furniture for that building and a second furniture order that names no building, all reported as construction of a recovery program. Apart from the County's own DHS reports, no record names a recovery program for the building or allocates the settlement share, or any room, to one. Certified a County building's costs as a recovery program.

The report also adds two new treatment awards made under Request for Proposals 25-031. Bergen New Bridge Medical Center is certified at 100,000.00 for adolescent substance use treatment and St. Joseph's Health at 70,000.00 for yoga within behavioral health treatment. Both are certified as encumbered and not yet spent. The audit trail shows both orders open at 05/29/2026 and no payment on either.

What should happen

The fund has paid 831,276.46 toward the renovation and furnishing of a multi-purpose County service building, and 13,270.10 more for office furniture. That money should go back to the settlement fund. The County has a 24,925.04 presentation system for the same site still open on the fund. It should come off.

The County can produce the payroll records that show what its settlement-funded staff do and how those positions were paid before 2023.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2023, FY2024, 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.