Highland Park
- 01Certified police defibrillators as overdose prevention22,642.51
- 02Spent 22,037.78 on defibrillators for the police22,037.78
- 03Spent 604.73 on anti-choking kits for the police604.73
- 04Paid for the same equipment from its own budget before22,642.51
What the reports say,
and what the books show.
Highland Park has received $126,313.61 in opioid settlement funds and spent $24,642.51 of it.
The money, four ways.
Four figures describe the same settlement money. Each one comes from a different document.
Certified against the books,
every report year.
Every year this jurisdiction has filed, and the year it has not. The match on each row is computed from the rows, not judged.
filed
- Programs listed
- none
- Amount expended
- $0.00
- Received to date
- $25,490.97
filed
- Program name
- Middlesex County Blue Cares Program
- Recipient
- Middlesex County
- Recipient category
- County or Municipality (including Departments and Municipal Alliances)
- Amount expended
- $2,000.00
- Unspent on hand
- $89,149.85
- Received to date
- $69,749.03
filed
- Programs listed
- none
- Amount expended
- $0.00
- Unspent on hand
- $96,385.86
- Received to date
- $98,800.90
filed
- Program name
- Purchase of defibrillators
- Recipient
- Borough of Highland Park
- Recipient category
- County or Municipality (including Departments and Municipal Alliances)
- Amount expended
- $22,642.51
- Unspent on hand
- $101,671.10
- Received to date
- $126,313.61
8 findings.
Every finding is verified to the documents in its own row. An inference is labelled as one.
Red with the marker: a certified figure the books contradict.
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.
program-misclassification · 4 documents · 10/03/2026The Borough paid Lifesavers Inc.
22,037.78 from its two opioid settlement accounts on 08/12/2025, on check 020138. The check pays three purchase orders. PO 25-01072 for 10,610.00, New AED's, eleven Defibtech Lifeline AED packages. PO 25-01074 for 10,407.78, New AED's and Pads, ten AED packages with adult and pediatric pads, split 952.48 to account G-02-41-794-201 and 9,455.30 to account G-02-41-776-200. PO 25-01098 for 1,020.00, AED for Library, one AED package. That is twenty two defibrillators. All three purchase orders ship to the police department at 222 South Fifth Avenue. The vendor quotes and invoices are billed to the Highland Park Police Department. The officer's certification on each voucher is signed by police command staff. No record produced shows where the units were placed, apart from the words AED for Library on one purchase order. Defibrillators treat cardiac arrest. No overdose response program is documented, and general defibrillator deployment is not among the uses Exhibit E lists.
non-conforming-spending · 4 documents · 09/23/2026The Borough paid LifeVac LLC 604.73 from opioid settlement account G-02-41-776-200 on 08/12/2025, on check 020139, for PO 25-01181, LifeVac Travel Kits.
The quote prices ten travel kits at 59.46 each plus shipping and is billed to the Highland Park Police Department. The purchase order ships to the police department. The vendor's letterhead reads The Original Airway Clearance Device. A LifeVac clears an airway blocked by a foreign body. It does not reverse an overdose and does not treat or prevent substance use disorder. No overdose program using it is documented, and no listed use in Exhibit E covers it.
non-conforming-spending · 3 documents · 09/23/2026The Borough's vendor history shows it bought defibrillator supplies from Lifesavers Inc. out of its current fund before the settlement money paid for them.
268.00 of AED Supplies on Contractual Services in 2018. AED pads and battery on Fire Equipment Other in 2021 for 245.04. Defibrillation pads on Fire Equipment Other in 2022 for 111.04, and adult and pediatric pads on Recreation and Educational Equipment in 2022 for 34.72 and 76.32. New AED pads for 121.07 in 2023. Replace expiring equipment for 271.02, first encumbered 12/06/2023 and paid 03/19/2024, on Fire Equipment Other. Those seven payments total 1,127.21. The same history shows LifeVac travel kits bought on 05/21/2024 for 304.91 on the Police Supplies line, check 17824. The appropriation line reports show more of the same from other vendors. Defibrillator pads for 185.00 from Continental Fire and Safety in 2020. Pediatric defibrillator pads for 773.44 and a defibrillator battery pack for 311.20 from Allied 100, AED Superstore in 2021. A purchase order for a new defibrillator from the same vendor, open on the Police Supplies line from 11/14/2022. Fourteen months later the Borough bought the same kits from the same vendor on the opioid account. In August 2025 the settlement money paid 22,642.51 for defibrillators and anti-choking kits for the police department. That is about twenty times what the current fund spent with Lifesavers in the six years before. The Borough kept charging some defibrillator supplies to the current fund after the settlement purchase, including a battery for 363.34 from UniFirst First Aid Corp paid 09/16/2025 on the Building Maintenance and Repair line.
funding-source-substitution · 3 documents · 09/23/2026Every dollar of the defibrillator and anti-choking kit purchases was paid on 08/12/2025.
That falls in the DHS reporting year running 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. Checks 020138 for 22,037.78 and 020139 for 604.73 total 22,642.51. The FY2026 report, published 10/01/2026, certifies 22,642.51 expended in that year, 0.00 encumbered and 0.00 of administrative expense (p1 to p2). The account audit trail printed 09/01/2026 shows no other payment from either opioid account after 08/12/2025. The total matches the books to the cent. What the report says the money bought is covered in the finding Certified police defibrillators as overdose prevention.
accurate-certification · 3 documents · 10/03/2026The FY2025 report, covering 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025, certifies 0.00 expended and 0.00 encumbered.
Asked for its goals, the Borough answered that it had identified projects for 2025-26, including installation of defibrillators in all Borough buildings and in police vehicles. Asked how it decided to use the funds, it answered that no funds were expended that year and that it had identified projects including purchase of defibrillators. The first defibrillator purchase order was encumbered 07/09/2025, nine days after the period closed. The same report answers No on public engagement, a strategic plan and a risk assessment, and says the Borough relies on input from its Police Department, Community Services Department, Board of Health and social worker.
report-disclosure · 2 documents · 09/23/2026The FY2024 report certifies 2,000.00 expended on the Middlesex County Blue Cares Program, a 24 hour line giving access to peer recovery coaches and links to detox, treatment and aftercare.
The ledger shows PO 24-00471, check 17648, paid 04/16/2024 to the Middlesex County Prosecutors for 2,000.00, described as a contribution to the Blue Cares program. The report cites Borough Council Resolution 4-24-117. The certified figure and the payment agree to the cent.
conforming-spending · 2 documents · 09/23/2026The FY2024 report certifies 69,749.03 received since distribution began in 2022 and 2,000.00 expended.
Question 9 of the same report certifies 89,149.85 unspent and uncommitted on hand. That is 19,400.82 more than the Borough had received in total. With 2,000.00 spent, the balance on hand could be no more than 67,749.03. The FY2025 report certifies 98,800.90 received in total and 96,385.86 unspent. With 2,000.00 spent in all, the balance would be 96,800.90, a difference of 415.04. Neither report explains either figure.
Withdrawn. Withdrawn on 2026-10-03. Question 9 asks what the Borough has on hand and gives no date, while the received figures run to 06/30 (FY2024 p1, FY2025 p1). The FY2024 figure of 89,149.85 is 21,400.82 more than the 67,749.03 received less spent at 06/30/2024. The FY2025 report shows 29,051.87 received from 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 (p1), so receipts after 06/30/2024 and before filing could make it a true balance. The FY2025 figure of 96,385.86 is 415.04 less than received less spent at 06/30/2025. The four device orders of 07/09/2025 to 07/28/2025, 22,642.51 paid 08/12/2025 (ledger pp1 and 3), and later receipts can account for that at a later filing. The Borough has produced no record of receipt dates, and neither report shows a filing date. Neither figure is shown to be false. The FY2026 report's 101,671.10 on hand (p2) is everything received through 06/30/2026 less everything spent, to the cent.
unspent-misstated · 4 documents · 10/03/2026Patterns this jurisdiction appears in: Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear
The ledger, as printed.
Account G-02-41-776-200, as printed from the jurisdiction's own accounting system. Classification follows the Exhibit E gates.
| Date | Check | PO | Payee and description | Amount | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/16/2024 | 17648 | 24-00471 | MID80 MIDDLESEX COUNTY PROSECUTORS · CONTRIBUTION TO BLUE CARES PRG | 2,000.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 08/12/2025 | 20138 | 25-01074 | LIF04 LIFESAVERS INC. · New AED's and Pads | 9,455.30 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 08/12/2025 | 20138 | 25-01098 | LIF04 LIFESAVERS INC. · AED for Library | 1,020.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 08/12/2025 | 20138 | 25-01072 | LIF04 LIFESAVERS INC. · New AED's | 10,610.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 08/12/2025 | 20138 | 25-01074 | LIF04 LIFESAVERS INC. · New AED's and Pads | 952.48 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 08/12/2025 | 20139 | 25-01181 | LIF05 LIFEVAC, LLC · LifeVac Travel Kits | 604.73 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| Total paid | 24,642.51 | ||||
| Conforming abatement spending | 2,000.00 |
Vendors, and what paid them before.
What fund carried each payee before the opioid account, and how large the opioid slice is against the whole relationship. Bars share one scale.
Full width is $22,037.78, the largest payee total. Solid is the opioid account. Hatched is every other fund.
All documents are public records produced by the jurisdiction. Titles are the documents' own.
No dated event is published for this jurisdiction yet.
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 recordCan opioid settlement money be spent on police cars or license plate readers?
No. Exhibit E of the national settlement lists the approved uses: treatment, recovery, prevention, harm reduction and related supports. Vehicles and surveillance hardware are not among the uses it lists, and state law bars using the funds to replace money a town would otherwise have spent.The approved uses
What did Highland Park tell the State it spent the money on?
It certified 2 programs to the Department of Human Services. Each program, its recipient and its amount are reproduced above, beside the payments in the account.See the reports
How was this grade computed?
By code, from a published rubric: reporting integrity 50 percent, spending conformity 40 percent, transparency 10 percent, with hard caps for a certified program that has no payee in the books, for an uncertified transfer out, and for a records refusal.The rubric
Articles about this town
Highland Park
Highland Park spent 22,642.51 of opioid settlement money on defibrillators and anti-choking kits for its police department. It had bought the same kind of equipment from its own budget for years.