Salem County

Summary

Salem County receives opioid settlement money in its own right. By its FY2025 report to the Department of Human Services it had received 1,645,992.01. The County's books show 827,547.94 paid from its opioid accounts through 08/27/2026.

Most of that went to real estate. Between 12/30/2025 and 03/12/2026 the County paid West Jersey Title Agency 604,970.41 from the opioid account for 24 Church Street, 8 Chapel Street and a Green Street parcel, all in Pilesgrove. Resolution 2026-044 authorizes the first two purchases for "a senior citizen center" and office space for County government. It states that funding them with settlement money and a federal grant "results in no additional costs to county taxpayers." The record holds no resolution for the Green Street parcel. The two deposits were paid 22 days before the Board adopted the resolution.

The opioid account then paid for work on the senior center. It also carries pay that the Public Health appropriation had carried before, moved over by journal, some of it months after the work was done.

The County's first three reports to the State describe none of this. The FY2023 report certifies an outreach program that the books show was one employee's pay and a second employee's fringe benefits. The FY2024 report certifies 27,714.37 more than the books show for that year. The FY2025 report says the County spent 0.00 on administration, then describes salaries as administrative costs. The property purchases fall in FY2026. The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, certifies them inside Recovery Supports, the program the County had used for sober living.

This project grades Salem County F, 36.65, provisional. Every figure below comes from the County's own ledger, payroll reports, vendor histories, resolution and reports to the State. The findings and source documents are on the Salem County page.

How this report was prepared

The County produced its opioid account audit trails, Public Health payroll reports, Public Health salary account audit trails, vendor histories and Resolution 2026-044 in response to records requests. Those records and the County's three reports to the State are posted on the Salem County page. County employees are referred to here by job title.

What the County bought

The County's opioid money sits in grant accounts G-02-41-733-22D-300 to G-02-41-733-22D-303. The property payments come from the opioid account audit trail printed 05/27/2026, pages 9 and 10.

Every payee is West Jersey Title Agency. The finding is here.

• 24 Church Street. The resolution sets the purchase price at 925,000.00. The opioid account paid 499,215.91 of it. The resolution names Community Development Block Grant CARES Act funding as the other source. The record does not show that side of the purchase.
• 8 Chapel Street. The resolution sets the purchase price at 55,000.00. The opioid account paid 60,754.50, which is 5,754.50 more. The closing statements are not in the record.
• Green Street, Block 53 Lot 4. The resolution names Block 53 Lot 7 and Block 53 Lot 1. It does not name this parcel. The record holds no resolution authorizing its purchase.

What the resolution says

Resolution 2026-044 was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on 01/21/2026. Four commissioners voted for it and one was absent. The Clerk of the Board certified it as a true resolution.

It authorizes buying 24 Church Street and 8 Chapel Street. It states their purpose. The purchase "is intended for use for county purposes, including but not limited to a space to house a senior citizen center, as well as additional office space to house various aspects of County Government including divisions of the Salem County Department of Health and Human Services."

It states the source of the money and the reason. "The County will fund the said purchases through Opioid Litigation Settlement funds and Community Development Block Grant CARES Act funding, the result of which results in no additional costs to county taxpayers."

The resolution names no opioid program for either building.

The County paid the two 5,000.00 deposits on 12/30/2025. The Board adopted the resolution authorizing the purchases 22 days later.

The senior center

The opioid account also paid for work on the senior center.

The first Improvement Authority order, described as a November reimbursement for the senior center, was encumbered 11/24/2025. That is before the deposits and before the resolution. The fire inspections list the building's main entrance, sanctuary, sound room, boiler room, kitchens and nursery kitchenette.

Two more charges were paid from the opioid account and then journaled off it. LBJ Flooring was paid 51,807.29 on 06/04/2026 for flooring described as for the senior center. Journals of 06/04/2026 and 06/05/2026 took it back off. Skyworks was paid 6,900.00 on 05/21/2026 for a used scissor lift. A journal of 06/25/2026 took it back off. The audit trail for 05/01/2026 to 08/22/2026 does not show which account those journals charged.

The County's vendor history for the Improvement Authority shows it pays its other building projects through the Authority from capital ordinances and grants. The finding is here.

What the law allows

Settlement money may not replace existing funding, N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f). A senior center and County offices are county purposes. The resolution calls them that. By its own words, the settlement money was chosen so that county taxpayers would carry no additional cost for them.

Neither is among the uses Exhibit E lists. Exhibit E names recovery housing, peer recovery centers and crisis stabilization centers, not a senior center or County offices. No opioid program for these buildings is documented.

What the County told the State

The County files an annual report with the Department of Human Services for each year from 07/01 to 06/30. Its first three reports certify 152,142.37 spent. The FY2026 report is covered below.

FY2023

The FY2023 report certifies 18,186.51 spent through 06/30/2023. Of that, 16,476.51 is a program named Expanded Community Outreach/ Engagement, described as "Strategic community outreach by trained recovery coach." The report says "This is an effort that has not been previously funded."

The 2023 payroll report shows most of the Community Service Aide's remaining pay carried by Operation Helping Hand grants. The second employee's salary is not charged to the opioid account. That employee appears in none of the County's Public Health payroll reports for 2023 to 2026. The fringe charge is 78 percent of the outreach figure. The finding is here.

The same report says the County had received 309,112.48 as of 06/30/2023. That is the four deposits of calendar 2022. It leaves out 19,694.27 received 01/31/2023 and 64,084.78 received 06/16/2023, 83,779.05 in all. The revenue audit trail shows both. The FY2024 report counts them instead. The finding is here.

FY2024

The FY2024 report certifies 75,216.83 spent from 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024. The books show 47,502.46 paid in that window. The report is 27,714.37 higher.

The report describes the review team and outreach figures as staff work. It says review team funding "is distributed bi-weekly toward the OFRT Coordinator's salary." The salary and fringe on the books for the year, with the July 2024 paycheck, already make up the administrative figure to the cent. No staff cost is left to pay the other two. Together they are 32,027.38. The payments that can be tied to them total 3,006.95. The finding is here.

The FY2024 report also certifies 437,693.71 unspent. That is 507,018.82 received, less FY2023 spending of 18,186.51, less the FY2024 program figures of 51,138.60. It does not deduct the 24,078.23 of administrative expense the same report certifies as spent. The FY2025 report carries the balance forward. On the reports' own figures the County received 1,645,992.01 and certified 152,142.37 spent, which leaves 1,493,849.64. The FY2025 report certifies 1,517,927.87, which is 24,078.23 higher. The finding is here.

FY2025

The FY2025 report certifies 58,739.03 spent from 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. Asked how much went to program administrative expenses, it answers 0.00. The next answer says administrative costs "cover the partial salary and fringe" of the Senior Outreach Coordinator "and the partial salary of the Salem County Assistant Supervisor of Nurses."

The books charge 34,811.69 of salary and fringe to the opioid accounts in that window, 23,507.01 of salary and 11,304.68 of fringe. The report's four program figures sum to its 58,739.03, so any salary it counts sits inside a program. The FY2024 report put the same kind of pay in its administrative figure. The finding is here.

The FY2025 report also certifies 10,789.89 for Harm Reduction Supply Distribution and says 977 naloxone kits and 28 emergency boxes were distributed. In FY2024 that program's figure was the cabinet checks plus the medical director's checks. In the FY2025 window the books hold no naloxone, cabinet or other supply purchase. The medical director's three checks, 3,000.00, are the only payments of either kind.

Pay moved onto the fund

The opioid salary account, G-02-41-733-22D-302, carries no appropriation. Its balance on 08/22/2026 was 72,339.89 below zero. The County charged it with pay that its Public Health appropriation had carried.

The Assistant Supervisor of Nurses

The County's payroll reports show the Assistant Supervisor of Nurses held that title from 2023 through 2026. None of her pay was charged to the opioid account in 2023 or 2024.

On 01/02/2025 a journal described as moving her salary from Public Health to the opioid account charged it 612.50, 20 percent of her 3,062.50 pay. The 2025 Public Health salary audit trail credits the same 612.50 back to Public Health. Journals on 02/27/2025 did the same for three more pays, 1,821.12.

From the 02/27/2025 pay, the 2025 payroll report charges 595.14 of her pay to the opioid account and 297.57 to the Public Health appropriation. On the pay before, Public Health carried 892.71 and the opioid account nothing. Her gross pay was 2,975.71 before and 2,975.70 after. The Public Health charge fell by exactly what the opioid account took on.

From 01/02/2025 through 08/27/2026 the opioid account carried 25,012.28 of her pay, 2,433.62 by journal and 22,578.66 through payroll. On 07/16/2026 the County credited back 1,821.92 described as her June and early July 2026 pay. The finding is here.

Past Public Health pay, journaled later

On 06/06/2024 the County posted eleven journal lines of 162.84 to the opioid account, one for each pay of a Research Assistant from 01/18/2024 to 06/06/2024, 1,791.24 in all. The 2024 payroll report charges exactly 162.84 of his pay to Public Health on each of those pay dates. The 2024 Public Health salary audit trail credits the same eleven lines back that day.

On 01/02/2025 the County posted 6,539.61 for a Community Service Aide's pays of 07/14/2024 to 11/07/2024. The payroll report charges all of her pay on the nine pays from 07/18/2024 to 11/07/2024, 13,914.07, to Public Health. Of that, 47 percent is 6,539.61. The Public Health salary audit trail credits 6,539.61 back the same day.

Neither charge paid for work as it was done. Each moved a cost the Public Health budget had already paid onto settlement money, months later. Together they are 8,330.85. The finding is here.

Sober living at the end of each year

The County certified Recovery Supports at 6,833.00 for FY2024 and 10,630.00 for FY2025. Each figure equals, to the cent, the Maryville Inc sober living checks charged to the opioid account that year. They cover November and December 2023 and October to December 2024.

The Maryville vendor history shows the County has paid Maryville for the same service every year since 2018 from its alcohol and drug abuse accounts. The opioid account was charged only for the last months of 2023, 2024 and 2025. The FY2024 report says the sober living money comes through a DMHAS funded contract, and that settlement funds were used "once previously allocated funding was exhausted."

Sober living is recovery housing, which Exhibit E lists. This project reads the pattern as months the County's own accounts would otherwise have paid. The record does not show whether the County's allocation for those months was reduced or would have been increased. The finding is here.

Catering, ice cream trucks and giveaways

From 09/07/2023 to 11/06/2025 the opioid account paid 10,418.32 for food, entertainment and merchandise.

Food, entertainment and giveaway merchandise are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. No evidence based prevention program using them is documented. The finding is here.

The year the property was bought

The State's reporting year FY2026 ran from 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. The books show 694,646.56 paid from the opioid accounts in that year. Every property payment falls in it. So does most of the senior center work.

The FY2025 report, last updated 08/27/2025, answered that the County funded no new programs that year and had no strategic plan. It reported 1,517,927.87 unspent. Six months after that year closed, the County paid its first property deposit.

FY2026

The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 405,986.28 received, 691,705.73 spent, 7,163.83 encumbered and 1,225,044.59 unspent on hand. The opioid accounts show 694,646.56 paid in the year, net of credits.

Almost all of the certified spending sits in one program. The report updates Recovery Supports, the program the County used in FY2024 and FY2025 for sober living checks, with 643,214.13 spent and 28 participants served. The other three program figures total 48,491.60, too small to hold the property closings.

The report's indicator text says the new community building "was in part funded by the opioid abatement funds as we move toward the establishment of a community clinic." Resolution 2026-044 names a senior citizen center and County office space. No clinic or recovery service in the building is documented. Certified 624,699.51 of property costs as recovery supports.

The unspent figure carries the FY2024 difference forward again. On the four reports' own figures 1,200,966.36 is left. The FY2026 report certifies 1,225,044.59, which is 24,078.23 more. Unspent balance never deducts the FY2024 administration.

What should happen

The County can return to the opioid account the 604,970.41 it paid for property and the 26,193.58 it paid for the senior center, from the budget that pays for County buildings. It can move the Public Health pay back to the Public Health appropriation.

The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2023 to FY2026 reports and what records support them.

How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology and the rubric. Corrections follow the corrections policy.