County · County government · 12 municipalities · 13 jurisdictions in total

Ocean County

13 jurisdictions in Ocean County receive opioid settlement funds. They are the county government and 12 municipalities. Complete ledgers have been produced for 4 of them. 8 jurisdictions are graded F for certifying spending that does not exist in the books.

Complete ledgers · 4 of 13Records refused · 0Graded F · 8
County wide · county government and 12 municipalities · 4 of 13 with complete ledgers
Received$17,201,783.00Cumulative, as each jurisdiction last certified to the State
Spent, verified$6,994,270.95Summed from the ledger rows published here
Non-conforming$1,671,002.14Classified against the Exhibit E gates
Misreported to the StateCertified against books conflict$798,449.74Certified figures the books do not support
Every figure is summed over the county government and 12 municipalities, from the published rows, in whole cents. A jurisdiction with no ledger adds nothing to spent.

The county government

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

Received$10,866,604.82Cumulative, as last certified to the State
Paid$3,925,614.83Summed from the county ledger
Misreported to the StateCertified against books conflict$149,334.24Certified figures the county books do not support
AGrade A · provisional
Grade A · provisional · rubric v5Grade A · provisional
Reporting integrity · weight 50
88.14 / 100
Spending conformity · weight 40
98.88 / 100
Transparency · weight 10
70 / 100
Weighted score
90.62 · A

12 municipalities

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

Graded municipalities in Ocean County, sorted by dollars misreported to the State, largest first
GradeMunicipality and patternsSpent, verifiedMisreported to State
FGrade FBrick Township
Funding-source substitution · Fake encumbrances
729,448.38Certified against books conflict307,909.80
FGrade FBerkeley Township
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Zero certification
2,478.00Certified against books conflict124,994.20
FGrade FStafford Township
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Fake encumbrances · Phantom programs · Year-end salary reclass
357,098.62Certified against books conflict101,947.57
FGrade FManchester Township
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear
335,280.72Certified against books conflict92,449.22
FGrade FToms River Township43,421.36Certified against books conflict10,499.30
DGrade DJackson TownshipNo figure publishedCertified against books conflict6,068.66
FGrade FBarnegat Township
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear
94,532.03Certified against books conflict3,000.00
FGrade FPoint Pleasant
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Fake encumbrances
70,425.54Certified against books conflict2,246.75
CGrade CLacey Township
Funding-source substitution · Fake encumbrances · Surveillance technology
270,001.32No figure published
FGrade FLakewood Township
Funding-source substitution · Police vehicles and gear · Surveillance technology
1,165,970.15No figure published
Not yet graded · 2

Beachwood Records pending · Little Egg Harbor Township Records pending

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.

8

Funding-source substitution

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

FGrade FFGrade FFGrade FCGrade C+4Findings
6

Police vehicles and gear

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

FGrade FFGrade FFGrade FFGrade F+2Findings
4

Fake encumbrances

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

FGrade FCGrade CFGrade FFGrade FFindings
2

Surveillance technology

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

CGrade CFGrade FFindings
1

Phantom programs

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

FGrade FFindings
1

Year-end salary reclass

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

FGrade FFindings
1

Zero certification

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

FGrade FFindings
Findings in Ocean County

Between 07/11/2025 and 11/14/2025 the Township paid 816,392.00 from its opioid accounts to four outside organizations. Shalva High School received 120,000.00 on check 75508 on 07/11/2025 and 194,000.00 on check 77356 on 11/14/2025. Lakewood Community Services received 172,392.00 on check 75678 on 07/25/2025. NJ Rising Stars, Inc. received 200,000.00 in two lines of purchase order 25005356 on check 75928 on 08/08/2025. S.T.E.P.S. (Solutions To End) received 130,000.00 on check 76216 on 08/22/2025. A further 250,000.00 to Lakewood Community Services, purchase order 25006947, was entered on 10/10/2025 and was still open on 08/28/2026. Every line reads OPIOID GRANT FOR 2024 SERVICES or OPIOID GRANT FOR 2025 SERVICES and nothing more. No grant agreement, scope of services, application or report from any of the four has been produced. The Township told the State in its FY2024 and FY2025 reports that it funded no programs with the money. Those two reports cover the years before the first grant check. Every one of these payments falls in the FY2026 reporting year, 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026. The State's FY2026 report file, published 10/01/2026, prints No Report Received for the Township.

6 documents · 09/23/2026

The FY2025 report certifies the first of these purchases to the State as a new program. It replaced equipment the Borough already had. The Borough bought police defibrillators from its capital budget before it spent any settlement money. General capital account 04-2018-201802-4028-43-04233, Ordinance 2018-02, Equipment-Police, object Defibrillator, was appropriated at 18,400.00. From it the Borough paid Physio-Control, Inc. 17,986.00 on check 1440 on 09/04/2018 for LIFEPAK defibrillators for Police, and Stryker Sales Corporation 396.00 on check 1850 on 07/25/2022 for defibrillation electrodes for Police. From police capital account 04-2016-201607-4028-43-04024 it paid Physio-Control 4,207.80 on check 1958 on 01/08/2024 for defibrillators. On 05/19/2025 check 19537 paid Stryker 27,068.40 from opioid account 01-9999-0120-0000-2-09280 for ten LIFEPAK CR2 defibrillators for Police, net of a 4,000.00 credit for the trade-in of a Stryker LIFEPAK the Borough already owned. Two more Stryker orders were paid from the opioid account. PO 20251196, Defibrillators, 29,868.59 on check 20220 on 01/12/2026. PO 20251380, 11,241.80 on check 20830 on 08/17/2026. On 10/06/2025 the Borough raised PO 20251380 on the opioid account and Stryker PO 20251374, Equipment for Ambulance, 8,840.69, on capital account 04-2024-202410-4156-50-04193. The FY2025 report describes the program as replacing end of life defibrillators with new units. N.J.S.A. 26:2G-39(f) bars settlement money from supplanting existing local spending. No overdose program using the defibrillators is documented.

8 documents · 09/23/2026

The FY2025 report certifies 0.00 in unspent and uncommitted opioid funds on hand. The same report certifies 65,704.42 received since 2022 and 36,484.66 expended in the period. The FY2023 report certifies 4,000.00 expended and the FY2024 report certifies 0.00 expended, so the three reports account for 40,484.66 spent. That leaves 25,219.76 unspent. Even after the 19,503.15 the FY2025 report certifies as encumbered, 5,716.61 remains uncommitted. The FY2024 report has the same gap. It certifies 47,465.06 received, 0.00 expended in the period and 20,455.86 encumbered, and also certifies 0.00 on hand. On its own figures 43,465.06 was unspent and 23,009.20 was uncommitted. The Borough has produced no ledger.

3 documents · 09/23/2026

The Township certifies 256,611.24 in opioid settlement money received since 2022 and 1,551.98 spent. The FY2023 report certifies 75,906.61 received and 0.00 expended, and lists one program, Reduction of Opioid Dependency Education, as not started yet with funding unknown. The FY2024 report certifies 184,592.96 received, 0.00 expended, 0.00 encumbered and 184,592.96 on hand, and answers No to funding any program. The FY2025 report certifies 1,551.98 expended on an eight week Citizens Police Academy for 24 participants. That leaves 255,059.26 unspent. All three reports state that the Township has no strategic plan, and none reports a completed risk assessment.

3 documents · 09/23/2026

The FY2024 report certifies a new program named Counseling Services and Prevention, recipient Bright Harbor Healthcare slash Lacey Twp Police and EMS, launched 01/01/2024, funded at 35,000.00, with 17,500.00 expended. The settlement account G-02-41-857-024 carries two FY2024 lines for that program. The first is a journal, reference 2368-2, dated 02/22/2024, described Bright Harbor 2024 Q1, for 8,750.00. The second is check 46294 of 05/09/2024 for the CY2024 Q2 fee, 8,750.00. The two sum to the certified 17,500.00. The Township's vendor history for Bright Harbor Healthcare shows the CY2024 Q1 invoice, purchase order 24-00571, paid by check 45689 on 02/22/2024 from account 4-01-25-240-295, Police Professional Services. Half of the spending certified for the program is a check the police budget had already paid, charged to the settlement account by journal. The same audit trail prints the account as added on 04/25/2024, after the date the journal carries. The credit side of the journal was not produced.

3 documents · 09/23/2026

The FY2024 report certifies 395,226.66 in unspent and uncommitted opioid funds on hand. The same report certifies 336,230.47 received in total since distribution began. The balance on hand is 58,996.19 more than everything the Township says it received. The FY2025 report then certifies 467,409.55 received in total, 6,068.66 expended, 6,369.25 encumbered and 454,971.64 unspent, and those figures tie to the cent. The FY2024 figures do not. The report does not say which FY2024 figure is wrong.

2 documents · 09/23/2026

Documents
ledger8 filesOpen
vendor history10 filesOpen
dhs report4 filesOpen
Municipal records12 municipalitiesOpen
Correction from Ocean 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 Ocean 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 Ocean 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