Rockaway Township
Rockaway Township certified a Dave & Buster's graduation night, tote bags, chair yoga, scholarships and medical magnets as opioid prevention, and its reports to the State count one pair of scholarships twice, count paid bills as still committed and misstate its balances.
Published 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Rockaway Township has received 266,384.75 in opioid settlement money. Through 05/28/2026 its settlement accounts paid 43,990.33.
- The FY2025 report certifies a graduation night at Dave & Buster's and a second high school's graduation party as drug prevention, 2,000.00.
- Tote bags, chair yoga, student scholarships, medical information magnets, translation earbuds and a painting class with refreshments were all certified as prevention or recovery programs. Together they come to 10,504.30.
- The FY2026 report lists the same two 500.00 scholarships twice, once as 2025 and once as 2024.
- The FY2024 report certifies 27,614.26 as committed but not spent. Its own program pages show 1,000.00.
- The FY2024 and FY2025 balance figures do not match the reports' own arithmetic.
- Three program pages name a payee the Township did not pay.
Naloxone, 4,988.00, is the only spending the record shows as a listed use.
Summary
Rockaway Township, Morris County, reports receiving 266,384.75 in opioid settlement money from 2022 through 06/30/2026. The national settlements list uses for the money, among them treatment, recovery, connection to care, prevention and harm reduction. The list is not exhaustive. Other documented, evidence-based programs that address the epidemic also qualify. In either case the money must add to local spending, not replace it.
The Township keeps the money in four ledger accounts, 2-01-40-714-000, 3-01-40-714-000, 4-01-55-004-021 and 5-01-55-004-021. Printed through 05/28/2026, they show 43,990.33 paid and 6,980.00 open. The later records production substituted two other accounts for the two that carry current spending, so nothing after 05/28/2026 on those two accounts is in the record.
| How this project classifies the 43,990.33 paid | Amount |
|---|---|
| Conforming, naloxone | 4,988.00 |
| Non-conforming, no listed use covers it and no program is documented | 10,504.30 |
| Unverified, the record does not settle it | 28,498.03 |
The unverified money is mostly Prevention Is Key school classes, 24,250.00. The orders name the classes but no contract, invoice or course material was produced to show what they taught.
What the money bought
| Payee | Purchase | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Morris County Prevention Is Key | School classes, a recovery event, a sponsorship | 24,250.00 |
| V.E. Ralph and Son, Emergent Devices | Narcan | 4,988.00 |
| MpoweredParent | A school vaping talk | 3,000.00 |
| Positive Promotions | Tote bags for a veterans fair and seniors | 2,756.11 |
| File of Life Foundation | Medical information magnets | 2,284.48 |
| Students | Four Municipal Alliance scholarships | 2,000.00 |
| Dave & Buster's, Morris Knolls Project | Project graduation | 2,000.00 |
| Other payees | Chair yoga, a grief panel, a book, earbuds, a painting program, refreshments, a donation, a wheel of health | 2,711.74 |
| Total | 43,990.33 |
Prevention Is Key holds another 6,700.00 on an order open since 12/15/2025. A 280.00 drum circle order was open on 05/28/2026.
Purchases certified as programs
Every one of these was certified to the State as a prevention or recovery program. The ledger shows what each one bought, and each ties to the cent.
| Report | Program certified | What the books show | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Project Graduation Sponsorship | Dave & Buster's and Morris Knolls Project, graduation night | 2,000.00 |
| FY2024, FY2025 | Veterans Resource Fair, Senior Resource Bags | Two orders of printed tote bags | 2,756.11 |
| FY2025 | File of Life Magnets, Translation Earbuds | Medical information magnets, Amazon earbuds | 2,586.42 |
| FY2024 | Chair Yoga, two blocks | A yoga instructor and a hall rental | 800.00 |
| FY2024 to FY2026 | Municipal Alliance Scholarships | Four 500.00 checks to students | 2,000.00 |
| FY2026 | Canvas and Calmness | A painting class and refreshments | 361.77 |
On 06/09/2025 check 100934 paid Dave & Buster's 1,000.00 from the settlement account and 2,500.00 from the Municipal Alliance trust. Check 100973 paid Morris Knolls Project 1,000.00 from the settlement account and 3,125.00 from the trust. The report describes a graduation night with entertainment and food. Certified a Dave & Buster's graduation night as prevention.
The bag programs are the bag orders and nothing else. The FY2025 report says the bags held opioid prevention information, but no order for printed material appears on the accounts. Certified printed tote bags as recovery and prevention.
A File of Life is a magnet that holds a resident's medical information for emergency crews. Certified medical magnets and earbuds as drug prevention.
Certified chair yoga classes as drug prevention. Certified student scholarships as drug prevention. Certified a painting class and refreshments as prevention.
What the Township told the State
| Year | Received in the year | Certified spent | Certified committed | Certified unspent | Paid in the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 54,261.84 | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||
| FY2024 | 108,243.38 | 26,614.26 | 27,614.26 | 80,629.12 | 26,614.26 |
| FY2025 | 63,400.83 | 8,163.77 | 500.00 | 191,019.87 | 7,771.92 |
| FY2026 | 40,478.70 | 10,492.30 | 7,700.00 | 213,414.42 | 9,604.15 |
The State's fiscal year runs 07/01 to 06/30. The FY2026 paid figure runs only to 05/28/2026, the last date printed for the active account.
FY2023 and the FY2024 spending figure agree with the books. The rest does not.
FY2024
The FY2024 report certifies 26,614.26 spent. The accounts paid exactly that between 12/21/2023 and 06/19/2024.
It also certifies 27,614.26 as appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent. That is the spent figure plus 1,000.00. The report's own program pages list one encumbrance, 1,000.00 for two Municipal Alliance scholarships, and 0.00 for the other seventeen programs. The ledger agrees with the program pages. The two scholarship orders were the only orders open on 06/30/2024. They were paid on 07/10/2024. Certified 27,614.26 encumbered when 1,000.00 was open.
The report certifies 80,629.12 of unspent money on hand. That is the year's receipts, 108,243.38, less the 27,614.26, to the cent. It drops the 54,261.84 the Township reported receiving in FY2023, none of which had been spent. On the report's own figures the Township held 134,890.96. Left 54,261.84 of FY2023 receipts out of unspent funds.
FY2025
The FY2025 report certifies 8,163.77 spent. The accounts paid 7,771.92 in the year.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Paid 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 | 7,771.92 |
| Less scholarships paid 07/10/2024, claimed in FY2024 as committed | -1,000.00 |
| Plus Senior Resource Bags, ordered 07/31/2025, paid 08/25/2025 | 1,391.85 |
| Certified spent, FY2025 | 8,163.77 |
The report gives the bags a funding date of 06/30/2025 and a launch date of 09/11/2025. Purchase order 25-02817 did not exist until 07/31/2025. Counted a July 2025 tote bag order as FY2025 spending.
The 1,000.00 of scholarships paid in FY2025 was never reported as spent in FY2024 or FY2025.
The same page certifies 191,019.87 on hand. The reports' own figures leave 190,628.02, which is 225,906.05 received less 34,778.03 spent and 500.00 committed. The certified figure is 391.85 higher. It is what remains if the year's spending is the 7,771.92 the books show, not the 8,163.77 the page certifies. Reported 391.85 more on hand than its own figures allow.
FY2026
The State published the FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It certifies 10,492.30 spent and 7,700.00 committed.
It lists the 2025 Municipal Alliance Scholarship at 1,000.00 and the 2024 Municipal Alliance Scholarship at 1,000.00. Both blocks name the same two students. Both give the same funding and launch date, 7/15/2025. The 2024 block says its scholarships were spent in the 2025 spending period. The ledger shows one pair of 500.00 scholarship checks in FY2026, both on 07/15/2025. The 2024 scholarships went to two other students on 07/10/2024. Certified the same two scholarships twice in one report.
The other program blocks tie where the books reach. Prevention Is Key school programming, 6,300.00 spent and 6,700.00 committed, matches one order. Distracted and Impaired Driving Prevention, 500.00, is a payment the ledger calls a donation. Wheel of Health, 50.53, is one Amazon order. Project Graduation 2026, 1,000.00 spent and 1,000.00 committed, is dated 06/11/2026, after the last printed date. The 280.00 drum circle order was still open on 05/28/2026.
Payees the reports name
Three program pages give a recipient the ledger does not show.
| Report | Program | Recipient named | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | NARCAN Distribution | Emergent Devices Inc. | V.E. Ralph and Son, check 96329 | 3,800.00 |
| FY2024 | Panel on Grief | Mental Health Association | The individual panelist, check 97726 | 200.00 |
| FY2025 | Gizmo's Pawesome Guide to Mental Health | Vanguard Direct Inc. | An individual, reimbursed by check 99095 | 497.50 |
Emergent Devices' full payment history with the Township is one 1,188.00 Narcan order in 2024. Three program pages name a payee the ledger does not show.
The Municipal Alliance trust
The Township's Municipal Alliance runs from trust account T-21-56-883-101. From 2019 through 2023 the trust bought Girls Circle, Boys Council, Footprints for Life, Life Skills, 7 Habits and Primary Prevention classes from Morris County Prevention Is Key, 17,100.00 in all, at 600.00 to 1,500.00 a class. Its last payment to that vendor was on 06/08/2023. From 12/21/2023 the settlement accounts paid the same vendor 24,250.00, mostly for the same classes in the Township's schools, at 1,650.00 and later 600.00 a class. On 06/05/2024 one check paid the vendor 6,600.00 from the settlement account and 3,300.00 from the NJACCHO Infrastructure Grant for the same set of classes.
The trust also paid Dave & Buster's for project graduation in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and Morris Knolls Project in 2021 and 2024. In 2025 both payees were paid from the trust and the settlement account on the same checks.
The settlement money must add to local spending, not replace it. The record shows the same vendors and programs on both accounts. It does not show the same cost moving from one to the other to the cent, so this project publishes these facts without a finding.
What should happen
The Department of Human Services relies on these reports to track the money. The FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 reports do not match the Township's own ledger on what the money bought, spending, commitments, balances or payees. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine how the reports were prepared and what records support them.
The Township should produce account activity for 4-01-55-004-021 and 5-01-55-004-021 after 05/28/2026, the Prevention Is Key contracts and course materials, and the Municipal Alliance award and match records.
How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.