Wall Township

Summary

Wall Township, Monmouth County, State ID NJ238, reported receiving 343,960.04 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 appropriated 335,471.57 to four settlement accounts, one for each budget year from 2023 to 2026. Through 08/28/2026 the four accounts paid 32,490.50, all on one purchase order, 25-01653, for PD Gym Equipment. Nothing from the accounts has gone to treatment, recovery support, naloxone, prevention, a counselor or a wellness service.

This project classifies all 32,490.50 as non-conforming. No payment is conforming or unverified. Read the Township's findings.

What the Township received

The FY2024 to FY2026 reports each list 0.00 of interest. The Township did not produce the revenue account that records its receipts.

What it spent, and on what

Every payment is a line of purchase order 25-01653 to Fitness Lifestyles, Inc., ordered 04/11/2025. Each line reads PD Gym Equipment. Each invoice is made out to the Wall Township Police Dept.

No invoice names a counselor, a clinician, a peer support service or a wellness program.

What the Township told the State each year

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

Every spending figure ties to the books in the right year. FY2023 and FY2024 report nothing spent, and nothing was paid before 06/25/2025. FY2025's 30,658.50 is check 70259 to the cent. FY2026's 1,832.00 is check 72020 to the cent.

FY2025 also reports 3,288.00 encumbered. The same order paid 1,832.00 more on 01/06/2026. The records do not show the order's open balance at 06/30/2025, so this project makes no finding on that figure.

FY2026 reports 311,469.54 on hand. That is the 343,960.04 the Township reports receiving since 2022, less the 32,490.50 spent. The book balances of the four accounts total 302,981.07. The other 8,488.47 of reported receipts had not been appropriated to any of the four accounts by 08/28/2026.

Police Wellness in the FY2025 report

The FY2025 report lists one new program, Police Wellness, recipient Township of Wall. It gives the primary problem as First Responder Mental Health and describes the program in one line, "Provide a gym/wellness space for first responders." It files the program under Workforce Development and Capacity Building, with the Schedule B strategy First Responders. It reports 33,946.50 funded, 30,658.50 expended and 70 participants.

The report's statement of impact reads "Provision of wellness and support services for first responders and others who experience secondary trauma associated with opioid related emergency events." Those are Exhibit E's words for one of its listed uses.

The report explains how the program addresses opioid use disorder. Officers get "a wellness space that promotes evidence-informed practices such as exercise and stress reduction." It says physical activity lowers risk factors for opioid use disorder and improves mood, resilience and coping. It says impact will be tracked through participation rates, employee wellness surveys, fitness assessments, sick time and EAP referrals, and by comparing the opioid related incidents officers respond to with use of the wellness center. No record in hand shows that tracking.

The report gives 04/09/2025 as the date the program was funded and launched. That is the order date of purchase order 25-01608, a 120.00 repair to gym equipment charged to Police Operations. The settlement order is dated 04/11/2025.

The report says the equipment was bought through the New Jersey State Contract and Cooperative Purchasing system. The State Contract line is blank on both purchase order forms, 25-01653-01 and 25-01653-02. The Township's 2024 dumbbell order from the same vendor names ESCNJ co-op contract 65MCESCCP.

The five payments on check 70259 make the certified 30,658.50 to the cent. Certified a 30,658.50 police gym as wellness services.

Is a gym a wellness service?

Exhibit E Schedule B lists the uses the national settlements name. Most of its categories say their uses "may include, but are not limited to" the items listed. Category I, First Responders, does not. In addition to the first responder items in sections C, D and H, it supports two things, education about fentanyl and other drugs, and "wellness and support services for first responders and others who experience secondary trauma associated with opioid-related emergency events."

The first responder items in sections C, D and H are EMS work to connect people to treatment after an overdose, diversion and training on opioid use disorder for law enforcement, naloxone and naloxone training, and education on immunity and Good Samaritan laws. None of them is gym equipment.

The Township chose the wellness item and quoted it. Tested against what the fund bought, the record shows five things.

• It bought goods, not a service. The item funds wellness and support services. The fund paid for equipment, delivery and installation, and paid no counselor, clinician, peer support team, employee assistance provider or wellness program.
• It serves the whole department, not the group the item names. The item serves responders who experience secondary trauma from opioid emergencies. The report's target population is first responders, law enforcement and other emergency responders, with no such limit. Nothing in the record ties use of the gym to officers who experienced that trauma.
• The report's own case is general fitness. Exercise that lowers risk factors and improves mood is a reason for any gym. It does not describe support after opioid emergencies.
• The gym was already there. The Township equipped and maintained the same police gym from other funds from 2018 on, as the next section shows.
• The category does not fit either. Exhibit E's workforce items cover addiction professionals and behavioral health workers who address opioid use disorder. Police officers using a gym are neither.

In this project's reading, a wellness and support service under Category I is help delivered to responders, such as counseling or peer support after overdose calls. A room of treadmills and kettlebells is not that, and no listed use covers gym equipment.

The same gym, paid from other funds first

The Township produced the vendor's full payment history, all funds, paid 01/01/2018 to 08/28/2026. It prints 44,045.96 on eleven purchase orders, every one sold to the Wall Township Police Dept for gym equipment or its upkeep.

On 04/09/2025 the Township ordered a 120.00 gym equipment repair from Fitness Lifestyles and charged it to Police Operations. On 04/11/2025 it ordered the gym build-out from the same vendor and charged it to the settlement account. On 03/10/2026 the Police Donations trust paid the vendor 300.00 for preventative maintenance on the gym. The settlement money paid for equipment in a police gym that the Township's own police lines and donations trust had equipped and maintained since 2018. Moved police gym purchases onto the settlement fund.

FY2026

The State published the Township's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 1,832.00 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 311,469.54 on hand.

It says "This year's spending focused on mental health of first responders dealing with opioid encounters." It names the Police Chief and the Township Administrator as the officials involved in deciding how to spend the money. It says the Township relied on the list of Opioid Remediation uses regarding mental health of first responders. Its one program is an update to Police Wellness, 1,832.00 spent, 70 participants served, no modifications.

Check 72020 paid two more lines of purchase order 25-01653 on 01/06/2026. Line 7, 930.00, bought ten yoga mats, a York machine bar and their delivery and installation. Line 8, 902.00, bought muscle clamps, five York kettlebells of 50 to 80 pounds and a BOSU ball. The two lines make the certified figure to the cent. Nothing else left the settlement accounts in the year. Certified police gym gear as first responder mental health.

The money not spent

The 2024, 2025 and 2026 settlement accounts hold 277,380.11 and have never paid anything. The 2023 account holds 25,600.96. Asked how many years of spending had been decided, the FY2026 report answers that the Township "is still determining the best use of these funds that is practical for our organization."

Every dollar the Township has spent from the fund went to the police gym. Every dollar spent from the fund bought police gym gear.

What should happen

The Township can restore the 32,490.50 to the fund and spend it on a listed use or a documented abatement program. Exhibit E does list wellness and support services for first responders who experience secondary trauma from opioid emergencies. The Township has 302,981.07 appropriated and unspent.

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 and the records behind them.

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