County · County government · 18 municipalities · 19 jurisdictions in total

Middlesex County

19 jurisdictions in Middlesex County receive opioid settlement funds. They are the county government and 18 municipalities. Complete ledgers have been produced for 4 of them. 6 jurisdictions are graded F for certifying spending that does not exist in the books.

Complete ledgers · 4 of 19Records refused · 0Graded F · 6

Grade board · 19 jurisdictionsMiddlesex County · provisional

Carteret East Brunswick Township Edison Township · provisional Highland Park · provisional Metuchen Middlesex Monroe Township New Brunswick · provisional North Brunswick Township · provisional Old Bridge Township Perth Amboy Piscataway Township Plainsboro Township · provisional Sayreville South Brunswick Township South Plainfield South River · provisional Woodbridge Township

A
B
C
D
F
Not yet graded
Records refused

County wide · county government and 18 municipalities · 4 of 19 with complete ledgers

Received$16,697,700.77Cumulative, as each jurisdiction last certified to the State

Spent, verified$6,658,416.82Summed from the ledger rows published here

Non-conforming$5,114,756.53Classified against the Exhibit E gates

Misreported to the State$850,001.04Certified figures the books do not support

Every figure is summed over the county government and 18 municipalities, from the published rows, in whole cents. A jurisdiction with no ledger adds nothing to spent.

The county government

Middlesex County is a recipient in its own right. Its reports and its books are compared here the same way a municipality's are.

Received$4,265,565.29Cumulative, as last certified to the State

Paid$1,154,750.62Summed from the county ledger

Misreported to the State$117,459.63Certified figures the county books do not support

Grade C · provisional · rubric v5Grade C · provisional

Reporting integrity · weight 50: 74.36 / 100
Spending conformity · weight 40: 63.05 / 100
Transparency · weight 10: 100 / 100
Weighted score: 72.4 · C

How grades work

18 municipalities

Graded jurisdictions first, sorted by dollars misreported to the State. The full column set lives in the statewide rankings.

Graded municipalities in Middlesex County, sorted by dollars misreported to the State, largest first
Grade	Municipality and patterns	Spent, verified	Misreported to State
FGrade F	Edison Township Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Phantom programs · Surveillance technology · Year-end salary reclass	2,723,332.56	Certified against books conflict415,774.42
FGrade F	New Brunswick Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Fake encumbrances · Phantom programs	2,143,825.35	Certified against books conflict260,000.00
FGrade F	Perth Amboy Funding-source substitution · Phantom programs	262,367.76	Certified against books conflict43,890.00
FGrade F	Metuchen Zero certification	65,228.56	Certified against books conflict12,876.96
AGrade A	Sayreville Funding-source substitution	169,916.92	Certified against books conflict0.03
FGrade F	Highland Park Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear	24,642.51	No figure published
FGrade F	Monroe Township Funding-source substitution	4,890.91	No figure published
DGrade D	North Brunswick Township Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Fake encumbrances	58,574.08	No figure published
AGrade A	Plainsboro Township	No figure published	No figure published
DGrade D	South River Surveillance technology	50,887.55	No figure published

Not yet graded · 8

Carteret Not yet requested · East Brunswick Township Not yet requested · Middlesex Records pending · Old Bridge Township Not yet requested · Piscataway Township Not yet requested · South Brunswick Township Not yet requested · South Plainfield Not yet requested · Woodbridge Township Not yet requested

What recurs here

Each family below groups the jurisdictions in this county carrying a finding of the same shape. Counts are sized by how far the family reaches.

Funding-source substitution

Work previously paid from another fund moved onto the opioid account.

ADFC+4Findings

Police vehicles and gear

Vehicles, upfits, body armor and equipment paid from opioid funds.

DFFFFindings

Fake encumbrances

An encumbrance certified to the State with no open commitment in the books.

DCFFindings

Phantom programs

A program certified to the State with no matching payment in the books.

FFFFindings

Surveillance technology

License plate readers, cameras and related subscriptions paid from opioid funds.

DFFindings

Year-end salary reclass

Salary moved onto the opioid account by journal entry at fiscal year end.

FFindings

Zero certification

A report year certified at zero expended while the books show payments.

FFindings

Findings in Middlesex County

The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, certifies 41,082.55 spent between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026 (p1). It answers No when asked whether the Borough funded any program, so it describes no purchase (p3). It gives the year's goals as prevention of overdose deaths and opioid awareness and education, and names the Police Department among the officials who decided (p2). The books show what the 41,082.55 bought. A 730.00 display order for the prevention program, paid 07/22/2025 by check 73567, which the FY2025 report had listed as encumbered. All Traffic Solutions purchase order 25-03050, MESSAGE BOARD TRAILER-POLICE, 33,722.95, paid by check 75206 on 03/19/2026. Invoice SIN047022 shows an ALPR-ready trailer with a surveillance ready telescoping mast. Eastern Datacomm purchase order 25-03188, 6,629.60, paid by check 75118 on 03/03/2026. Invoice 193452 shows a Verkada two-camera unit and cellular gateway for the police remote trailer. The three make the certified figure to the cent. The trailer and its camera are 40,352.55, or 98.2 percent of it. The report gives overdose prevention as its goal for the money and says no program was funded. It never states that the money bought a police surveillance trailer and camera. Police traffic and surveillance equipment is not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no overdose program using this equipment is documented. The 12/31/2025 journal moving 16,436.97 back to the grant fund is not spending, and the report leaves it out.

4 documents · 10/03/2026

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 Borough's vendor history for Pulsse Services shows 175,000.00 paid in seventeen lines between 03/28/2023 and 05/14/2024 from account G-02-03-708-001, FY22 Community Policing Dev. Program. That is the full authorized amount. 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, the same day as the last grant payment. Resolution 2026-88 renews it again at 105.16 per hour, the 2023 rate, and 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, before any settlement payment. The FY2025 report states the reason 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 FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, certifies 87,898.28 more spent on PULSSE between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026. Nine Pulsse Services payments in that year sum to 87,898.28 to the cent. Through 08/31/2026 the vendor history shows 165,859.36 of settlement money paid to Pulsse Services and 19,034.16 more committed. Whether this is supplantation under state law is a legal question this project does not decide.

5 documents · 09/23/2026

The Borough's first three reports certify no spending of its opioid settlement money. The FY2023 report certifies 10,506.80 received and 0.00 expended as of 06/30/2023. The FY2024 report certifies 36,540.77 received since 2022 and 0.00 expended, encumbered or spent on administration. The FY2025 report certifies 52,300.47 received since 2022, including 156.03 of interest, and again 0.00 expended, encumbered or spent on administration. None of the three lists a program. The FY2023 report gives its goals as awaiting the Board of Health plan for use of the funds. The FY2024 report says the Board of Health was to form a committee to decide how to use the funds and that the preparer was still waiting for direction. In the FY2025 report the preparer states that repeated requests to the Administrator, the Police Chief and the Council to make a plan for the funds produced no information about any plan. The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, is the first to certify spending. It certifies 22,280.60 expended. That is a 13,950.00 Operational Readiness for Police Officers course from Zschool LLC at Seton Hall University, funded 03/11/2026 for 31 officers, plus 8,330.60 of administrative expense, which the report says paid each of the 31 officers for four hours to attend. The Police Chief and Captain decided the spending. Every report answers No to engaging the public, and the FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 reports answer No to having a strategic plan or a risk assessment. The Borough has produced no ledger, so none of these figures can be tested against the books.

4 documents · 09/23/2026

The Township has not spent any of its opioid settlement money through 06/03/2026. The FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 reports each certify zero expended and zero spent on administration. The FY2024 and FY2025 reports also certify zero encumbered and answer No to funding any program. The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, certifies zero expended, zero encumbered and zero administration for 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026 and answers No to funding any program. The Township's Grant Budget Account Status and Transaction Audit Trail, printed 06/03/2026 for 01/01/2022 to 06/03/2026, covers five National Opioid Settlement reserve accounts, G-02-41-765-122-301 through G-02-41-765-126-301. They carry a modified budget of 100,092.10 with zero expended, zero encumbered and no transaction line. The record holds no print for 06/04/2026 to 06/30/2026. The FY2024 and FY2025 reports state that the Township has no strategic plan, has completed no risk assessment and has not engaged the public, and that it plans to do each in the future. The FY2026 report answers No on a strategic plan. It answers No, but plan to in the future, on a risk assessment and on public engagement.

6 documents · 09/23/2026

The FY2026 report lists one program, Purchase of defibrillators, recipient the Borough, funded 08/12/2025 and launched 07/09/2025, with 22,642.51 funded and spent (p4 to p5). It gives the primary problem and the purpose as lifesaving measures, and the intended impact as AEDs for police officers on patrol and for all Borough buildings. It files the program under Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention, with the Schedule B strategy Prevent Overdose Deaths and Other Harms, reports 0 individuals served, and says the program focuses on life saving measures in the case of overdose (p5 to p6). The books show two checks on 08/12/2025. Lifesavers Inc. check 020138 paid 22,037.78 for AED packages and pads on purchase orders 25-01072, 25-01074 and 25-01098. LifeVac LLC check 020139 paid 604.73 for ten LifeVac anti-choking travel kits on purchase order 25-01181. Every order ships to the police department. The report does not mention the anti-choking kits. Defibrillators treat cardiac arrest and a LifeVac clears a blocked airway. Neither reverses an overdose. The Borough had bought the same kinds of equipment from its current fund before. No overdose program using this equipment is documented, and neither item is among the uses Exhibit E lists.

4 documents · 10/03/2026

The FY2026 report certifies a new program, the Police Opioid Response Capacity Building & Coordination Initiative, under Workforce Development and Capacity Building, funded and launched 07/01/2025, with 1,179,981.00 spent and 239 served (p16 to p20). It says the money supported a limited allocation of Police Department personnel costs for planning, coordination, education and information sharing (p17 to p18), was disbursed throughout the reporting period as costs were incurred (p19), and was not intended to replace ordinary police funding (p23 to p24). The books show one payroll posting on one pay date. Reference 7189 on 12/24/2025 charged account G-02-24-0330-795-000 with police base pay 1,007,786.98, part time 39,016.50, overtime 87,369.14 and civilian base pay 45,808.38, 1,179,981.00 to the cent. The base pay line is 98.81 percent of one biweekly base payroll for all 195 sworn positions on the Township's 2025 salary administration. The same report certifies 71,357.58 as an expansion of Officer Safety / Evidence Retrieval through additional investment in and acquisition of investigative, forensic and evidence retrieval resources (p27 to p28). The books show eight Police Department purchase orders, each printed on the police operating line 5-01-25-0240-000-059, moved onto the same account by journal on 10/31/2025, 11/15/2025 and 12/31/2025, 71,357.58 to the cent. Seven are subscriptions the department already carried. Six of them are renewals or annual plans, and the Lexipol training term began 01/01/2025, before the year opened. One pay period of the whole department is not a year of charges for planning and coordination, and subscriptions already in place are not an expansion. Both were operating budget costs moved onto the settlement money. No abatement program using the payroll or the software is documented. Existing police payroll and police software are not among the uses Exhibit E lists.

5 documents · 10/03/2026

Documents

ledger13 filesOpen

purchase order7 filesOpen

resolution5 filesOpen

vendor history2 filesOpen

contract8 filesOpen

dhs report4 filesOpen

Municipal records18 municipalitiesOpen

Correction from Middlesex County jurisdictions

No correction received from this jurisdiction. If a figure on this page is wrong, send the record that shows it. The response is published here word for word.

Correct the record

Frequently asked questions

Why does Middlesex County appear twice, as a county and as its municipalities?

The county government and each municipality receive their own allocations and file their own reports. The county's grade covers its own books. The municipalities are graded separately and rolled up on this page.The rubric

Did the county pass any of its money down to the towns?

Where a county made subawards to municipalities, the payment appears in the county ledger as a transfer out and on the receiving town's page as money received. Both sides are shown from the documents.How we trace a transfer

Which Middlesex County jurisdictions have not produced their records?

None has refused. Jurisdictions marked pending have a request inside the statutory window, and no letter grade is issued until the ledger is complete.Every town

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