Woodland Park Borough

Summary

Woodland Park Borough, Passaic County, reported receiving 83,631.66 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 Borough's settlement account, G-01-22-750-301-001, National Opioids Settlement Trust Fund, paid 16,415.92 through 09/10/2026, all of it to prevention and education vendors. A 4,850.00 order for a zip line was open on that date. Two small sub-accounts, National Opioids Trust II and National Opioids Trust Abatement, held 2,981.49 and 1,269.31 on 06/03/2026 and show no payments.

The Borough's four reports to the Department of Human Services certify spending that adds up to the books over four years. One year does not. The FY2024 report certifies as spent an order that was still open when the year closed. The FY2026 report certifies that the Borough has nothing left on hand. The account says otherwise. The FY2024 and FY2025 on hand figures do not follow from the reports' own numbers.

• Reported 0.00 on hand with 34,004.75 unspent on the books
• Certified 2,250.00 spent in FY2024, paid on 09/04/2024
• FY2025 on hand figure is 5,173.10 short of its own math
• FY2024 on hand figure is 4,819.75 short of its own math

What the account paid

Check 49318 for the Children's Aid order was issued on 06/26/2025 and voided the same day. Check 49428 replaced it.

A budget journal, reference 2124, moved 616.49 from the account to the Trust II sub-account on 05/08/2024. Its description reads "TO RECLASS AND SEPERATE OUT TRUST II REC." The money stayed in the Borough's settlement accounts.

This project classes all 16,415.92 as unverified. The reports describe prevention programs. The purchase orders and vendor histories name the programs and nothing more. No contract, invoice or course material in the record shows opioid content. No payment is ruled out either.

What the Borough told the State

The FY2023 report lists one program, "Simulation Education," at 2,965.92. It describes a driving simulator to show students the effects of drug use. The InnoCorp check matches it to the cent and to the date. The ledger and the vendor history call the purchase "Marijuana Simulation Education."

The FY2024 report certifies 2,250.00 spent on Footprints for Healthy Living and 7,000.00 encumbered. Nothing was paid from the account between 07/01/2023 and 06/30/2024. The 7,000.00 was the open Steered Straight order. The 2,250.00 was also an open order on 06/30/2024. Check 47840 paid it on 09/04/2024. The report itself gives the program's launch date as 04/17/2025. Certified 2,250.00 spent in FY2024, paid on 09/04/2024.

The FY2025 report certifies 10,600.00 spent. That is the 7,000.00 Steered Straight check and the 3,600.00 Footprints check to the cent. The account paid 12,850.00 in the year. The other 2,250.00 is the Footprints check the FY2024 report had already counted. The 600.00 it reports as encumbered was the open Children's Aid order.

The on hand figures do not follow from the reports' own numbers.

No interest and no transfer to the county is reported in either year. The account paid no more than the reports certify, so no unreported spending closes the gap.

• FY2025 on hand figure is 5,173.10 short of its own math
• FY2024 on hand figure is 4,819.75 short of its own math

FY2026

The State published the Borough's FY2026 report on 10/01/2026. It covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. It certifies 35,039.87 received in the year, 83,631.66 received since 2022, 600.00 spent, 0.00 encumbered and 0.00 on hand.

The 600.00 is the Children's Aid check of 07/16/2025, the only payment in the year. The report lists one program, Hidden in Plain Sight, with 1,200.00 of funding, 600.00 spent and 0 people served. The account shows one 600.00 order for it.

The report's question 9 asks how much unspent money the Borough "currently" has on hand. It answers 0.00.

The audit trail printed 06/03/2026 shows 34,004.75 unexpended. The trail printed 09/01/2026 shows the same 34,004.75 with nothing encumbered. The Borough's spending total on the books, 16,415.92, equals the spending its four reports certify. Only the balance is missing. Reported 0.00 on hand with 34,004.75 unspent on the books.

The zip line

The account printed on 09/10/2026 carries a new open order. Purchase order 26-01543, dated 09/09/2026, pays NJ Fun Services 4,850.00 for "NAT'L NIGHT OUT ZIP LINE/STAFF." The print of the same account on 09/01/2026 shows no open order.

National Night Out is a police community event. No overdose program using a zip line is documented. Amusement rentals are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. The order is larger than any single payment the account has made. It falls in FY2027, and no report yet covers it.

The same vendor before the settlement

The Center for Prevention & Counseling's payment history runs from 01/01/2018 to 09/01/2026. The Borough paid it 24,750.00 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for Footprints programs, one of them at the Charles Olbon School, and WNBI student awareness assemblies. Those payments came from two Municipal Alliance accounts, T-22-56-850-000-801 Reserve Municipal Alliance and T-22-56-855-000-805 Municipal Alliance In-Kind. Nothing was paid to the vendor in 2021, 2022 or 2023. In 2024 and 2025 the settlement account paid it 5,850.00 for the same kind of programs. The earlier Footprints payments were 3,750.00 each. Neither settlement payment, 2,250.00 or 3,600.00, matches an earlier payment to the cent.

The FY2024 and FY2025 reports say "The Municipal Alliance Task Force comes up with strategic plans for the use of the funds."

Analysis. The same programs moved from Municipal Alliance accounts to settlement money. Whether that replaced local spending turns on what the Borough did with its Municipal Alliance funding after 2020. That record is not in the file. This project publishes no supplantation finding and classes the Footprints payments as unverified.