Pemberton Township

Summary

Pemberton Township, Burlington County, State ID NJ174, reported receiving 281,337.72 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 holds the money on five budget lines, G-02-41-959-000-001 to G-02-41-959-000-005, with appropriations of 270,657.22. Through 09/21/2026 the lines paid 115,126.12 and had 833.60 on open orders. The largest purchase is a vehicle package for a Ford F150: the truck, a siren and emergency light upfit, and a police vehicle wrap, 62,299.72 in all. Most of the rest went to defibrillators and CPR supplies, teaching props, event food, police youth and community events, and giveaways.

The FY2026 report certifies a budget balance as the year's spending, counts orders placed after the year closed as its encumbrances, and repeats the prior year's balance on hand to the cent. Read the Township's findings.

What the Township received

The FY2024 to FY2026 reports each list 0.00 of interest. The FY2023 report states that the Township transferred all of its funds to the County and gives no figures. The FY2024 report states that it did not transfer its funds, and gives the same 171,004.61 for the year and for everything received since 2022.

The fifth budget line, titled 2026 National Opioid Settlement, opens at 39,406.44, the sum the FY2026 report certifies as received in the year. A fourth line, titled 2025 National Opioid Settlement County, holds 5,000.00 from a source the produced records do not show. The Township did not produce the revenue account that records its receipts.

What it spent, and on what

This project classifies 83,321.39 of the payments as non-conforming and 31,804.73 as unverified. Unverified means the record does not settle the question either way, such as food at an outreach event the Township's reports describe but no other record documents. No payment is documented as conforming, because no produced record documents a program behind any of them beyond the Township's own reports.

What the Township told the State each year

The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30.

FY2024 ties to the books. The one program, Pemberton Township Community Outreach, certified under Recovery Supports, is 3,480.98 of food and homeless care packages for an outreach event on 04/18/2024 that the report says brought in Hope One and treatment providers. The report dates the program 04/18/2023, a year before the event.

FY2025 also ties at 30,334.71. Its 50,181.50 encumbered is two real orders open on 06/30/2025, the Ford F150 at 48,752.00 and a Chick-fil-A order at 1,429.50. No FY2025 program describes the truck. The TAG Expo program, 17,939.21 certified under Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention, is one Nasco order of teaching props and one pizza order, to the cent. A marijuana kit at 5,119.10 and an alcohol kit at 4,439.00 make up more than half of the Nasco order. The CPR and First Aid program is certified at 10,996.00 against 10,966.00 in the books.

FY2026 does not tie. The sections below take each figure in turn.

The truck

On 05/30/2025 the Township encumbered purchase order 25-01388 to Chas S. Winner, Inc. Ford on settlement line G-02-41-959-000-001. Check 3003 paid it on 02/19/2026.

On 07/22/2025 the Township entered purchase order 25-01938 to Elite Vehicle Solutions on the same line. It buys front and rear Ford F150 harnesses, a Sound Off siren speaker, emergency light heads, an undercover LED insert, a Blueprint light controller and 4,275.00 of labor, 10,147.72 in all. Elite's vendor report lists the Township's orders from 2021 to 2026. Every other order on it is police vehicle or K-9 work, paid from police vehicle lines, police vehicle ordinances and reserves. Check 3153 paid the upfit on 07/16/2026. Check 3148 paid Acerbo's Auto Trim and Lettering 3,400.00 the same day for a vehicle wrap the ledger describes as police opioid awareness.

The FY2026 report answers No when asked whether the Township funded any program in the year. It prints no program block and names no vehicle. Its narrative speaks of prevention, education, harm reduction and community engagement, and its answer on who decided names the Police Department among the officials involved. The truck is 87.2 percent of what the lines paid in the year. The FY2025 report said the Township was looking at supporting mobile intervention and outreach programs. No outreach program using the truck appears in any report or produced record. Police vehicles are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Bought a 48,752.00 police pickup, reported no program.

The Township's own vendor reports show its police budget buying the same things from the same three vendors.

• Chas S. Winner Ford sold the Township police interceptors on police vehicle lines from 2018 to 2022. On 01/27/2026, three weeks before the F150 was paid, check 1205 paid it 179,727.00 for four 2026 Ford Utility Interceptors on ordinance 15-2025, Acquisition of PD SUVs.
• Elite was paid 331,288.01 for police vehicle and K-9 work from police lines, ordinances and reserves. The same Sound Off runner light on the settlement order was paid from the police vehicle parts line on 01/27/2026.
• Acerbo's was paid 14,900.00 for police vehicle lettering on police lines and ordinances from 2018 to 2026.

The Township has not yet produced the 2019 to 2026 detail of its police vehicle and equipment lines. Until it does, the record cannot show whether those lines were reduced when the settlement lines took the truck. That the settlement money took over a cost the police budget carried is this project's inference. Police lines bought the same vehicles, lights and lettering.

What the FY2026 report certified

The spending figure is arithmetic on the budget. The five lines carry 270,657.22 of appropriations. Every payment from them through the 08/06/2026 check run totals 109,906.55. The difference is 160,750.67, the certified figure to the cent. The Township's own 05/29/2026 print computes the same column, appropriation less expended, for the four lines then on it. The report certifies as spent 104,822.82 more than the Township paid in the year. Certified a 160,750.67 budget balance as money spent.

The encumbered figure is the list of seven orders open in late August 2026. Six of the seven were entered after 06/30/2026: Junior Police Academy uniforms and food, tourniquets and gloves, food for a police and county event, Amazon event supplies and an open order described only as Vendor. The orders actually open on 06/30/2026 total 19,435.72, and the largest are the truck's upfit at 10,147.72 and the police vehicle wrap at 3,400.00. Only one order appears on both lists. Certified orders placed after year end as encumbered.

The balance on hand, 157,934.10, is the figure the FY2025 report gave. In between, the Township reported receiving 39,406.44 and its lines paid 55,927.85. The report's own figures leave 80,718.19. Reported the same 157,934.10 on hand as a year earlier.

The defibrillators

The FY2025 report certifies Community CPR and First Aid Training at 10,996.00, under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training, with Harm Reduction and Training as its strategies. The report says the program allowed the purchase of AED equipment and CPR manikins, and that it held two training sessions.

The books show 10,966.00. Check 2514 paid Lifesavers, Inc. 1,376.00 for CPR manikins on 08/22/2024. Check 2581 paid 9,590.00 for ten Defibtech Lifeline AED packages on 11/14/2024, the date the report gives as the program's funding date. The 30.00 difference is why the three FY2025 programs add to 30,364.71 while the report certifies 30,334.71.

A defibrillator treats cardiac arrest. The records in hand document no training session and do not show where the ten AEDs were placed. Beyond the report, no overdose program using the ten AEDs is documented. Defibrillators are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. Certified ten AEDs as community CPR and first aid training.

Spending after 06/30/2026

From 07/01/2026 to 09/21/2026 the lines paid 25,382.58. No report covers that period yet. Besides the truck's upfit, the police vehicle wrap and the smart board, the payments include these.

• AED pads and BLS course materials, 1,921.10.
• Tourniquets and exam gloves, 2,059.40.
• A Kona Ice truck for the police L.E.A.D. graduation, 1,200.00.
• A National Night Out vendor, 1,190.00.
• A TAG and opioid canopy and table cloth, 900.00.
• Food for the Junior Police Academy, 212.17, and CPR cards for the youth academy, 106.15.

Junior Police Academy uniforms, 539.00, were received and unpaid on 09/21/2026.

The vendor reports show the same kinds of cost on police lines before the settlement lines took them.

• The police program costs line paid JCM Associates for L.E.A.D. graduation certificates in 2023 and 2025. In 2026 the settlement line paid JCM 1,206.96 for police L.E.A.D. items.
• The police community relations line paid for National Night Out banners in 2024.
• The police program costs line paid Lifesavers for Heartsaver K-12 CPR cards and workbooks in 2024 and for CPR card fees in 2025.

The Township's Municipal Alliance grants have bought giveaways from 4imprint every year since 2022. On 06/03/2026 check 3083 paid a 2,635.89 settlement order for water bottles, sunglasses, pens, beach balls and tote bags together with an Alliance order for cups, tote bags and keychains.

What the records do not show yet

• The 2019 to 2026 detail of the police vehicle and equipment lines. It was requested and was due 10/09/2026.
• A fleet or assignment record for the F150, which would name the department that uses it and show whether the wrap went on it.
• The record that funded the 5,000.00 line, and the revenue account that records receipts.
• Any record of the CPR sessions, the TAG Expo or the outreach events beyond the Township's own reports.
• The purchase order backup for the National Night Out vendor and for the open order described only as Vendor.

What should happen

The settlement lines paid 62,299.72 for a truck, its siren and lights, and a police wrap, and they now carry police youth, community and CPR training costs the police budget paid before. The Township can restore that money to the settlement lines 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 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.