Pennsauken Township

Summary

Pennsauken Township, Camden County, told the State it had received 496,277.49 in opioid settlement money, interest included, through 06/30/2025. 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 Township keeps the money in three accounts, G-02-41-779-000, G-02-41-779-001 and G-02-41-779-002. Through 08/24/2026 they paid 408,510.72. Of that, 386,350.98 is EMS pay and 22,159.74 is the police dog West. Read the Township's findings.

The FY2023 and FY2024 reports certify nothing spent, and the books agree. The FY2025 report certifies 151,857.15 spent and the FY2026 report 233,244.32, and the books agree on both totals. What the money bought is not what the reports say it bought.

The EMS pay

The FY2025 report certifies a program named First Responders at 136,857.15 expended. It files the program under Wraparound and Connected Care Supports. It names the target population as "Individuals who Use Drugs" and reports 74 participants served.

The same program block explains what the money does. It names the problem as "Staffing shortages due to inability to pay at a competitive rate." It says the budget can only handle 18 dollars an hour for part-time EMTs, and "the grant funds are being used to pay the additional $9 per hour." It says each person's wage allocation "is set up upon hire and charged directly to the grant funds."

The audit trail shows the charges. Account G-02-41-779-002 took a payroll charge every week from 11/27/2024. In the year the report covers, the 31 charges total 122,372.15. A journal of 12/26/2024 added 14,485.00 on account G-02-41-779-001.

The Township's payroll register lists every charge under the EMS department. The worksheet behind the journal prices each hour at 27.00 less a normal rate of 19.00, which is 8.00, not the 9.00 the report states.

Exhibit E Category I, First Responders, adds two uses to the first-responder items in sections C, D and H: education on fentanyl precautions and wellness support for first responders. No listed use in C, D, H or I names EMT pay. The charge follows hours worked, not overdose calls. No overdose program is documented. Certified EMS pay raises as care for people who use drugs.

Wages the budget had already paid

On 12/26/2024 the journal charged 14,485.00 to the settlement fund for work weeks 09/30/2024 to 11/10/2024. The same day the general fund line First Aid Regular Pay took a credit of 14,485.00 under the same reference. The 2024 EMS wage ledger shows its balance rising from 152,582.47 to 167,067.47.

Those wages had already been paid through the budget. The settlement fund paid them back. The FY2025 report states that "budget funds are not being supplanted." In six years of EMS wage ledgers, 2021 to 2026, this credit is the only entry that names the opioid grant.

State law, N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f), bars using the money to supplant local spending. Moved 14,485.00 of paid EMS wages onto the settlement fund.

The police dog

The FY2025 report certifies a second program, "Community Resource Canine Training for our K9 dog," at 15,000.00. It files it under Workforce Development and Capacity Building. Asked how the program addresses opioid use disorder, it answers that the program "provides law enforcement with additional resources to interact with the public in a positive way."

Invoice 144 from Alpha and Omega Working Dogs bills "K9 West - Community Resource Canine Training" at 15,000.00 and ships to the Police Department. It is dated 01/18/2025, the date the report gives as the day the program was funded. Purchase order 25-00663 followed on 02/13/2025. Check 156 paid it. The vendor history from 2018 shows no other payment to the vendor from any fund. Certified police dog training as workforce development.

The fund kept paying for the dog after the report period closed. The payments total 7,159.74 through 08/24/2026.

• Five nights at a Hilton Garden Inn in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for the dog's training, 583.80.
• Purchasing card charges of 1,203.25 for crate pads, a nail grinder, a car kennel, a harness vest and three personalized bandanas bought through a PayPal payment to an individual.
• Amazon orders for dog food, supplements, grooming supplies, dog cologne and leads, and a shock collar.
• Two 600.00 fees to Community Resource Canines LLC.

No overdose program using the dog is documented. Kept paying for the police dog's food, gear and lodging.

Where the fund has gone

EMS pay is 94.6 percent of the spending. The payroll register the Township produced runs to pay date 05/15/2026. The five later charges, 53,250.11, rest on the ledger's payroll captions, PR 10 to PR 14, on the same accounts. The August 2026 print shows account G-02-41-779-002 at 363,081.08 paid against 347,626.01 appropriated, a balance of negative 15,455.07. The next payroll charge posted to account G-02-41-779-001. 386,350.98 of the fund went to EMS pay.

The report's other figures

The First Responders block reports funding of 638,689.95 and 501,832.80 encumbered. Page 1 of the same report certifies 0.00 encumbered. No payroll charge on the accounts is ever encumbered, and the funding figure is larger than every settlement dollar the Township appropriated or said it received. Reported 501,832.80 set aside with no order on the books.

The FY2025 report certifies 362,566.62 unspent. That is the three appropriations, 514,423.77, less the 151,857.15 certified as spent. On the Township's own receipts figure the balance would be 344,420.34. Unspent figure equals budget less spending, not cash.

FY2026

The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 233,244.32 spent, and every payment from the three accounts in that window sums to the same figure.

The First Responders page again files EMS pay under Wraparound and Connected Care Supports, for Individuals who Use Drugs. It reports 67 people served. Its own text names the problem as staffing shortages and the purpose as ensuring the public receives EMS services. It says the grant pays part-time EMTs 9.00 an hour above the 18.00 the budget can handle. No wraparound or connected care service is documented. Certified EMS payroll as care for people who use drugs.

The dog's update counts every payment for West from 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. The 184.42 the report certifies as encumbered is the next order of dog treats, paid 07/08/2026.

The report certifies 129,137.88 unspent. That is again the three appropriations less certified spending and the encumbrance, to the cent. The same report says the Township has received 607,215.05 since 2022. On that figure the balance would be 221,929.16. The unspent figure leaves out 92,791.28 that was never appropriated. FY2026 unspent figure leaves out 92,791.28 of receipts.

What should happen

The fund has paid 386,350.98 for EMS pay and 22,159.74 for a police dog. The EMS pay was certified to the State as a care program for people who use drugs. Part of it repaid wages the budget had already covered. Category I adds education and wellness support to the first-responder items in sections C, D and H. No listed use in C, D, H or I names EMT pay. The dog's training was certified as workforce development. No overdose program using the pay or the dog is documented. The Township can restore that money to the fund, stop the weekly payroll charge, and spend the fund 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.