Sayreville

Summary

The Borough of Sayreville, Middlesex County, has received 203,761.08 in opioid settlement money through 06/30/2025, by its own FY2025 report. The money may be spent only on the opioid abatement uses listed in the national settlements, and it must add to local spending, not replace it.

Nearly all of it has gone to one vendor, Pulsse Services, which places licensed social workers inside the Sayreville Police Department. Connecting residents to addiction treatment is a listed use. The same service, from the same vendor, at the same hourly rate, was paid in full from a police grant first. When that grant was spent, settlement money took over. The Borough said so to the State.

Its reports to the State match its books on spending, within three cents. They do not match on what was left. The FY2024 report certified nothing on hand when its own arithmetic left 61,120.38. The FY2025 report certified a round 40,000.00 commitment that no book figure supports, and it reported no outcome measures for the program.

In 2026 the account began paying for other things. It paid 1,450.00 to summer camp instructors and 2,607.56 of payroll the ledger does not explain. The FY2026 report calls the camp drug resistance education and the first payroll charge an internship.

The Borough grades C, 78.85, on this project's rubric.

The program and its first funding

Resolution 2023-76, adopted 03/27/2023, awards Pulsse Services a contract for LSW Services and Counseling at the Sayreville Police Department, not to exceed 175,000.00. The resolutions and agreements are in the Pulsse Services contract file.

The Borough's vendor history for Pulsse Services shows 175,000.00 paid in seventeen lines between 03/28/2023 and 05/14/2024. Every one was charged to account G-02-03-708-001, FY22 Community Policing Dev. Program. That is the full amount the resolution authorized.

The switch to settlement money

Resolution 2024-91 renews the same contract, for the same service at the same location, not to exceed 87,493.13. The first settlement payment to Pulsse Services, 9,817.20 on check 86800, is dated 05/14/2024. That is the same day as the last grant payment.

Resolution 2026-88 renews the contract again at 105.16 per hour, the 2023 rate. It names opioid account G-02-03-160-110 as the funding source.

The FY2024 report gives the program a launch date of 03/14/2023. That is fourteen months before any settlement payment. The FY2025 report gives the reason for the switch in the Borough's words. "The program was initially funded through a DCA grant. It was so successful the Borough wanted to continue the program after the grant was exhausted."

The settlement agreement between the State and its towns requires the money to supplement local spending and not supplant it. N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f) says the same. Whether this is supplantation under state law is a legal question this project does not decide. The finding is Settlement money took over a grant funded police program. Other towns that moved existing costs onto settlement money are listed under funding source substitution.

What the Borough told the State

The FY2023 report certifies nothing expended. The first posting to either opioid account is 05/14/2024. Report and books agree.

The FY2024 report certifies 12,761.68 expended on the PULSSE program. Checks 86800 for 9,817.20 and 87028 for 2,944.48 sum to 12,761.68 to the cent.

The FY2025 report certifies 65,199.37 expended. The six Pulsse Services payments in that year sum to 65,199.40. The certified figure is three cents under the books.

The balances do not match.

One year later the FY2025 report certified 111,515.35 unspent and uncommitted on hand. The finding is Told the State nothing was on hand when 61,120.38 was.

The FY2025 report certifies 40,000.00 appropriated or encumbered but not spent at 06/30/2025. No book figure equals it. The commitment open that day in the vendor history is purchase order 25-03449 to Pulsse Services, raised 06/19/2025, for 41,312.60, with nothing yet paid against it. Reading the certified figure as an estimate rather than a book encumbrance is an inference. The finding is Certified a round 40,000.00 encumbrance with no book match.

The Borough calls the program "so successful." Its FY2025 report leaves blank the fields for key performance indicators, number of participants served and number of referrals to treatment. The same report answers No to public engagement, No to a strategic plan and No to a risk assessment. The FY2026 report fills in two of those fields, 662 participants served and 40 referrals to treatment. The finding is FY2025 report gave no outcome measures for its program.

New spending in 2026

On 07/21/2026 the Borough paid six individuals from opioid account G-02-03-160-110. Each line reads Willabee Camp Instructor. One payment was 700.00 and five were 150.00, a total of 1,450.00. The FY2026 report lists Camp Willabee as a new program, 1,450.00 encumbered at 06/30/2026. It describes a three day day camp for 80 children, run by teachers employed in the school district, and labels it drug resistance education under Primary Prevention. Asked how the program uses evidence-based or evidence-informed practices, the report answers n/a. No curriculum is named in the report or the ledger. Exhibit E lists evidence-based youth prevention, not camp staffing on its own. The finding is Paid six summer camp instructors from settlement money.

Four payments to the Borough's grant payroll clearing vendor are charged to the same account. They are 840.00 on 06/30/2026, 840.00 on 07/15/2026, 840.00 on 07/31/2026 and 87.56 on 08/15/2026, a total of 2,607.56. Each line reads 2026 Payroll. The ledger names no employee, title, program or hours. These are the first payroll charges in the account's history. The FY2026 report certifies an Internship program of 840.00, an intern hired to research programs, serving 0 individuals, under the primary category Recovery Supports. That accounts for the 06/30/2026 charge. No work product from the research is in the record. The finding is Charged 2,607.56 of payroll the ledger does not explain.

The camp and payroll payments after 06/30/2026 fall in the reporting year that runs to 06/30/2027.

FY2026

The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 252,947.35 received since 2022 and 88,738.28 expended.

The spending figure ties to the books to the cent. Nine Pulsse Services payments come to 87,898.28, the amount the report certifies for PULSSE. One grant payroll charge of 840.00 on 06/30/2026 is the amount it certifies for a new Internship program.

Settlement money still pays for the social work service the police grant paid for first. The finding is Settlement money took over a grant funded police program.

The report describes the camp and the internship for the first time. It names no curriculum for the camp and no work product for the intern. The findings are Paid six summer camp instructors from settlement money and Charged 2,607.56 of payroll the ledger does not explain.

What should happen

The Borough can show what the police department paid for social work before the grant, and what it would have paid without settlement money. That is the test for supplantation.

The 1,450.00 paid to camp instructors has no documented evidence-based program on this record. The Borough can restore it to the opioid account.

The Borough can show the position, the hours and the work behind the 2,607.56 of payroll. Its FY2026 report accounts for 840.00 of it as an intern researching programs.

The State relies on these reports to verify compliance. The Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Comptroller should examine the FY2024 and FY2025 balances.

The full record is on the Sayreville page. How this project classifies spending is set out in the methodology. Corrections follow the corrections policy.