North Brunswick Township
- 01Paid 51,639.00 for a police van from settlement money51,639.00
- 02Certified a 51,639 police van with no use described51,639.00
- 03Police vehicles came from the budget in every other year51,639.00
- 04Van contract hit the books before the bids were openedNo figure published
What the reports say,
and what the books show.
North Brunswick Township has received $275,224.02 in opioid settlement funds and spent $58,574.08 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
- $51,179.75
filed
- Programs listed
- none
- Amount expended
- $0.00
- Unspent on hand
- $169,771.43
- Received to date
- $153,274.87
filed
- Programs listed
- none
- Amount expended
- $0.00
- Unspent on hand
- $213,074.49
- Received to date
- $213,074.49
filed
- Program name
- Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Recipient
- Empower Somerset & Embright Education
- Recipient category
- Community Based Organizations/Non-Governmental Organizations
- Amount expended
- $58,574.08
- Unspent on hand
- $192,679.92
- Received to date
- $275,224.02
9 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.
North Brunswick Township paid Malouf Ford 51,639.00 for a 2025 Ford Transit van from account G-02-24-130-006-888, which the Township named Opioid Police Funding.
Purchase order 26-02165 is dated 03/19/2026, ships to the Dept. of Public Safety and charges that account. Check 89296 paid it on 03/23/2026, was voided on 03/24/2026, and check 89343 paid the same 51,639.00 the same day. Bid invitation BID26002 asks for one 2025 Ford Transit van for the Police Department. Its 28 pages never use the words opioid, outreach, recovery, settlement or grant, and specify no outreach, treatment or passenger program feature. Resolution 114-3.26, adopted 03/02/2026, awards the contract for a Van for Opioid Recovery Outreach Programs. The Chief Financial Officer certified the 51,639.00 available in grant account G-02-24-130-006-888. On 05/01/2026 the Township charged the 60.00 title fee for the van's VIN to its POLICE Vehicles line. The van is 51,639.00 of the 58,574.08 paid from the two opioid accounts produced. The FY2025 report told the State the Township planned to use the funds for Police Use, community awareness and Student training. The resolution calls the van an outreach van. The bid, the purchase order and the title fee treat it as a police vehicle, and no outreach program using it is documented. The Township bought its police vehicles with its own money in every year from 2019 to 2026. A police vehicle is not among the uses Exhibit E lists.
non-conforming-spending · 7 documents · 09/23/2026The FY2026 report, page 1, certifies 58,574.08 spent between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026.
Its one program, Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid on pages 4 to 6, accounts for 5,832.23 of it. Its goals answer reads To use the funds for appropriate programs and training that meets the criteria of the use of the Opioid Settlement Funds. The books for the year show 58,574.08 paid from the two opioid accounts, equal to the certified figure. 51,639.00 of it is a 2025 Ford Transit van from Malouf Ford on purchase order 26-02165, paid 03/24/2026 on check 89343 from account G-02-24-130-006-888, Opioid Police Funding. Bid invitation BID26002 asks for the van for the Police Department. The purchase order ships to the Dept. of Public Safety. The 60.00 title fee posted 05/01/2026 to the POLICE Vehicles line. Resolution 114-3.26 of 03/02/2026 calls it a Van for Opioid Recovery Outreach Programs. No outreach program appears in the report or in any record produced. The report counts the van in its spending and describes no use for it. No overdose program using this vehicle is documented.
false-characterization · 7 documents · 10/03/2026The Township bought police vehicles in every fiscal year from 2019 through 2026 from its own money.
It used the POLICE Vehicles operating line, the FY2025 line Aquisition of Police Safety Vehicles, and the truck purposes of annual bond ordinances 19-23 through 25-22, each of which names Public Safety first. Malouf Ford sold the Police Department a detective Ford Explorer, purchase order 26-01511, paid 01/05/2026 from the police vehicle line and Ordinance 24-12. The FY2025 police vehicle line was fully committed by 01/07/2026, and the FY2026 POLICE Vehicles line carries 0.00. Seventy eight days after the Explorer, Malouf was paid for the van from the opioid police account. After the van the Township went back to its own money. Two Dodge Durangos on purchase order 26-01690 were paid 05/26/2026 and 08/24/2026 from the police vehicle line and Ordinance 25-22. Reading the van as a fleet vehicle the Township would otherwise have paid for itself is an inference. It rests on this purchase history and on the police framing of the bid, the ship to address, the account name and the title charge.
funding-source-substitution · 10 documents · 09/23/2026The ledger for G-02-24-130-006-888 posts Contract BID26002 Res 114-03-2026 for 60,000.00 on 02/01/2026.
The resolution recites that the two bids were received on 02/03/2026, and it was adopted on 03/02/2026. The contract line was reduced by 8,361.00 on 02/23/2026, leaving 51,639.00. The bid specifies a Grey or Black exterior. The dealer order and the purchase order describe the van as White. The purchase order prints State Contract 40808, although the van was bought under BID26002.
procurement-irregularity · 4 documents · 09/23/2026Account G-02-24-130-006-999 Opioid DPRCS Funding paid Mike's Country Market 430.95 for FOOD REFRESHMENT on purchase order 26-00690, check 89391, on 04/07/2026.
No program, event or training is named for the food, and none is documented. Food is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. The same account paid 340.29 more for food in February 2026. 54.00 to Chartwells on purchase order 26-01771, 257.72 to Mike's Country Market for LUNCH 1/22 on purchase order 26-01772 and 28.57 to Sam's Club for OPIOID FUNDING - CHEESE TRAY on purchase order 26-01783. The first two were encumbered 01/16/2026, the same day as the Empower Somerset adult mental health training of 1/22/26. The record does not say whether that food served the training.
non-conforming-spending · 2 documents · 09/23/2026The FY2025 report certifies 1,102.85 appropriated or encumbered and not yet spent between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025.
That figure equals Primo Prevention purchase order 26-00288 to the cent. 259.00, 330.00, 370.00 and 143.85 for shipping. The vendor history dates the order 07/21/2025. The ledger first encumbers it 07/22/2025 against account G-02-24-130-006-999, which was added 07/01/2025. No opioid account and no commitment existed in the books on 06/30/2025. The order was paid by check 87265 on 08/25/2025.
fake-encumbrance · 3 documents · 09/23/2026The FY2024 report certifies 153,274.87 received since 2022, zero interest and zero expended.
The same report certifies 169,771.43 unspent and uncommitted on hand, which is 16,496.56 more than the Township says it ever received. The FY2025 report certifies 213,074.49 received, zero interest and 1,102.85 encumbered, and it certifies the full 213,074.49 as unspent and uncommitted, counting the encumbered 1,102.85 as uncommitted.
unspent-misstated · 2 documents · 09/23/2026The two opioid accounts produced were each added on 07/01/2025 as Temporary Budget, at 70,019.65 for Opioid Police Funding and 70,019.64 for Opioid DPRCS Funding.
Together 140,039.29. The FY2025 report certifies 213,074.49 received through 06/30/2025, which is 73,035.20 more. Resolution 114-3.26 recites that the Township has received more than 240,000.00. A third opioid account, G-02-26-130-006-999, carried a 3,600.00 Embright Education charge on 03/23/2026 that was moved to the 2024 account on 04/02/2026. The Township has not produced that account's report, and the record does not show where the rest of the money sits.
fund-balance · 5 documents · 09/23/2026The two produced opioid accounts paid 58,574.08 between 08/25/2025 and 04/07/2026, all of it in the reporting year running 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026.
The FY2026 report, published by the State on 10/01/2026, certifies 58,574.08 spent in that year, equal to the books to the cent, and 300.00 encumbered, equal to the open line 1 of Sam's Club purchase order 26-01783. The van is 51,639.00 of the spending. The report's one program describes 5,832.23 of it and no part of the report describes the van. The FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 reports each certify zero expended, and the books agree. Both accounts were added 07/01/2025, and no payment from settlement funds appears before 08/25/2025.
reconciliation · 7 documents · 10/03/2026Patterns this jurisdiction appears in: Funding-source substitution · Fake encumbrances · Police vehicles and gear
The ledger, as printed.
Account G-02-24-130-006-888, as printed from the jurisdiction's own accounting system. Classification follows the Exhibit E gates.
| Date | Check | PO | Payee and description | Amount | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/25/2025 | 87265 | 26-00288 | Primo Prevention LLC · ITEM# BANSSDA-61 | 259.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 08/25/2025 | 87265 | 26-00288 | Primo Prevention LLC · IREM PAM-BTC-O5 (item PAM-BTC-05, as printed) | 370.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 08/25/2025 | 87265 | 26-00288 | Primo Prevention LLC · SHIPPING | 143.85 | Paid · Conforming |
| 08/25/2025 | 87265 | 26-00288 | Primo Prevention LLC · ITEM# RACK-BTC-05 | 330.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 01/20/2026 | open | 26-01783 | SAM'S CLUB · (no description printed) | 300.00 | Open encumbrance · Unverified |
| 01/28/2026 | 88713 | 26-01748 | Empower Somerset | 1,400.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 02/09/2026 | 88938 | 26-01772 | MIKE'S COUNTRY MARKET · LUNCH 1/22 | 257.72 | Paid · Unverified |
| 02/09/2026 | 88949 | 26-01771 | NO BRUNSWICK BOE - Chartwells | 54.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 02/09/2026 | 88965 | 26-01783 | SAM'S CLUB · OPIOID FUNDING - CHEESE TRAY | 28.57 | Paid · Unverified |
| 02/09/2026 | 88965 | 26-01783 | SAM'S CLUB · OPIOID FUNDING -TRAINING | 60.99 | Paid · Unverified |
| 03/24/2026 | 89343 | 26-02165 | MALOUF FORD, INC. · One (1) Ford Transit Van | 51,639.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 04/02/2026 | 89389 | 26-02116 | EMBRIGHT EDUCATION | 3,600.00 | Paid · Conforming |
| 04/07/2026 | 89391 | 26-00690 | MIKE'S COUNTRY MARKET · FOOD REFRESHMENT | 430.95 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| Total paid | 58,574.08 | ||||
| Conforming abatement spending | 6,102.85 |
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 $51,639.00, 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 North Brunswick Township tell the State it spent the money on?
It certified 1 program 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
North Brunswick Township
North Brunswick Township paid 51,639.00 of opioid settlement money for a Ford Transit van bid for its Police Department, and its reports to the State misstate what it held.