Ringwood
- 01Certified a 15-year police DARE program as new3,591.81
- 02Reported 1,434.31 spent. The books show 3,720.55.2,286.24
- 03Left 2,700.00 of class payments out of FY2025 spending2,700.00
- 04Reported 15,167.65 encumbered with no open order behind it15,167.65
What the reports say,
and what the books show.
Ringwood has received $67,716.34 in opioid settlement funds and spent $12,856.02 of it. Its reports to the State certify $275.00 with no payee in the books.
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
- $13,027.17
filed
- Program name
- Movement as Medicine
- Recipient
- Residents of the Borough of Ringwood
- Recipient category
- County or Municipality (including Departments and Municipal Alliances),Schools, Colleges, Universities
- Programs listed
- 2
- Amount expended
- $1,643.66
- Unspent on hand
- $44,938.51
- Received to date
- $42,029.83
filed
- Program name
- DARE
- Recipient
- 4th grade students in school district
- Recipient category
- Schools, Colleges, Universities
- Programs listed
- 2
- Amount expended
- $4,791.81
- Unspent on hand
- $44,825.01
- Received to date
- $54,235.48
filed
- Program name
- Community Health Education
- Recipient
- Ringwood Health Dept.
- Recipient category
- County or Municipality (including Departments and Municipal Alliances)
- Programs listed
- 4
- Amount expended
- $1,434.31
- Unspent on hand
- $60,346.26
- Received to date
- $67,716.34
14 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 FY2025 report answers Yes when asked whether the Borough funded any new programs in the year (p2).
It lists DARE, recipient 4th grade students in school district, funded 02/24/2025, launch date 01/23/2025, with 3,591.81 expended (p5). In the same block it states that the Police Department has participated in this program for over 15 years (p6). The certified 3,591.81 is two payments from account 4-01-40-340-201 on 03/19/2025. MBM Specialty Advertising was paid 1,162.00 for T-shirts by check 44686, and Creative Product Sourcing was paid 2,429.81 for DARE items by check 44646. The Borough bought the same kinds of goods from the same vendors on its own accounts for years before. The police DARE project 14-54-7100 paid Creative Product Sourcing for DARE items in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The AWARE Programs line paid MBM for DARE T-shirts in 2020, 2021 and 2022. A program the report itself dates back fifteen years was certified as new, and the settlement money took over purchases the Borough's own accounts had carried.
false-characterization · 5 documents · 10/03/2026The FY2026 report certifies 1,434.31 spent between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026 (p1).
That is the sum of three programs, Community Health Education at 1,026.80, Lets Clear the Air at 132.51 and Movement As Medicine at 275.00 (pp4 to 11). The report says the year's funding went to community education programs and support of the local DARE program (p2). The books show 3,720.55 paid in the period. Account 4-01-40-340-201 paid 55.00 by check 45721, 300.00 by check 45919, 44.17 by check 45914 and 158.40 by check 45990. Account 5-01-40-340-201 paid 1,069.70 for DARE T-shirts by check 46358 and 2,093.28 for DARE items by check 46324, both on 03/13/2026. No program in the report names the 3,162.98 of DARE purchases, and the certified figure is 2,286.24 below the books. Nothing was open on either account at 06/30/2026, and the account prints show no further activity through 08/28/2026.
misreported-expenditure · 5 documents · 10/03/2026The FY2025 report certifies 4,791.81 expended between 07/01/2024 and 06/30/2025 (p1).
That is its two programs to the cent, Girls on the Run at 1,200.00 and DARE at 3,591.81 (pp3 to 6). Account 4-01-40-340-201 paid 7,491.81 in the period. The other 2,700.00 is seven payments on 11/26/2024. Yoga 600.00 by check 44180 and 375.00 by check 44183, Zumba 450.00 by check 44073, hikes 600.00 by check 44190, a workshop 275.00 by check 44191, handwriting analysis 250.00 by check 44103 and room usage 150.00 by check 44164. Five of the purchase orders are described as Movement as Medicine or Movement for Medicine. No FY2025 program names any of the seven. The report's own balance counts them. Received since 2022, 54,235.48, less unspent on hand, 44,825.01, is 9,410.47. That equals FY2024 spending of 1,643.66, plus the full 7,491.81, plus the 275.00 the report lists as encumbered. The certified expended figure and the certified unspent figure cannot both be true.
unreported-spending · 3 documents · 10/03/2026The FY2024 report certifies 15,167.65 appropriated or encumbered but not yet spent between 07/01/2023 and 06/30/2024 (p1).
Account 4-01-40-340-201 opened with 16,811.31. Eight payments on 05/22/2024 and 06/19/2024, 1,643.66 in all, took its running balance to 15,167.65, the certified figure to the cent. Every order on the account to that date was paid by 06/19/2024. The next order was not encumbered until 10/15/2024. No order was open on 06/30/2024. The 15,167.65 is the unspent balance of the appropriation, with no purchase order behind it. The same report lists 44,938.51 unspent on hand (p1). The two figures together are 60,106.16, more than the 42,029.83 the report says the Borough had received since 2022.
fake-encumbrance · 2 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2026 report certifies 67,716.34 received since 2022 (p1), 0.00 encumbered and 60,346.26 unspent on hand (p2).
The two settlement accounts paid 12,856.02 from 05/22/2024 through 06/30/2026. That is 1,643.66 in FY2024, 7,491.81 in FY2025 and 3,720.55 in FY2026. Nothing was open at 06/30/2026, and the account prints show no further activity through 08/28/2026. Received less paid is 54,860.32. The certified figure is 5,485.94 higher. It is also 499.70 higher than the reports' own spent figures allow. 67,716.34 less the certified 1,643.66, 4,791.81 and 1,434.31 is 59,846.56.
unspent-misstated · 7 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2024 report certifies 42,029.83 received since 2022 and 44,938.51 unspent on hand (p1).
The unspent figure is 2,908.68 more than every dollar the report says was received. The same report certifies 1,643.66 spent in the year, and account 4-01-40-340-201 paid exactly that by 06/19/2024. On the report's own figures no more than 40,386.17 could be on hand. The received figure does not follow from the reports either. The FY2023 report lists 13,027.17 received as of 06/30/2023 (p1). Adding the FY2024 receipts of 25,987.06 gives 39,014.23, which is 3,015.60 less than 42,029.83. The FY2025 report's 54,235.48 received since 2022 (p1) is 39,014.23 plus that year's 15,221.25.
unspent-misstated · 4 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2026 report certifies Community Health Education, recipient Ringwood Health Dept., at 1,026.80 funded and 1,026.80 spent, with 4 sessions and 80 people served (pp4 to 6).
Account 4-01-40-340-201 paid Atlantic Health System 55.00 for community health education by check 45721 on 11/26/2025 and 158.40 for the November 2025 invoice by check 45990 on 12/23/2025. It paid the speaker from the 2024 panel 300.00 by check 45919 on 12/10/2025, with no description. The three make 513.40. No other payment in the year is health education. The certified 1,026.80 is exactly twice 513.40. The report claims 513.40 more than the books show.
misreported-expenditure · 4 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2026 report certifies Lets Clear the Air, two sessions on the hazards of tobacco, marijuana and vapes, at 132.51 funded and 132.51 spent (pp6 to 8).
The only payment for it is 44.17 of refreshments, purchase order 25-02128, described REFRESHMENTS-LETS CLEAR AIR, check 45914 on 12/10/2025. The certified 132.51 is exactly three times 44.17. The report claims 88.34 that was never paid. The 44.17 that was paid bought food, which is not among the uses Exhibit E lists. No listed use covers it.
misreported-expenditure · 3 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2026 report lists Movement As Medicine as a new program, funded and launched 7/1/2025, with 275.00 spent in the current reporting year, 120 people served and 4 sessions (pp8 to 11).
It prints the same 275.00 again as an update to the 2024 program (p11). Neither settlement account paid 275.00, or any Movement as Medicine charge, between 07/01/2025 and 06/30/2026. The only 275.00 Movement as Medicine payment either account has ever made is a workshop on purchase order 24-01932, check 44191, on 11/26/2024. That is in FY2025, and the FY2025 report left it out. A second 275.00 order to the same instructor, purchase order 24-01889, described Movement as Medicine Fall 2024, was encumbered on 10/31/2024 and voided on 12/30/2025 without payment. The vendor histories of every Movement as Medicine instructor run through 08/28/2026 and show no settlement payment after 11/26/2024. Their fall 2025 classes, 375.00 and 450.00, were paid from the Health Department's operational supplies line on 12/10/2025.
phantom-program · 5 documents · 10/04/2026Creative Product Sourcing invoice 167327 was paid on one purchase order, 26-00213, in two lines on 03/13/2026.
Line 1, DARE items for 121.98, was charged to the police DARE project 14-54-7100 and paid by check 1904. It took the project from 121.98 to 0.00. Line 2, 2,093.28, was charged to settlement account 5-01-40-340-201 and paid by check 46324. The project carried 3,723.05 on 01/01/2019 and paid the same vendor for DARE items in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. When the police project ran out, the settlement account paid the rest of the same order. The FY2026 report names no program for the 2,093.28.
supplantation · 4 documents · 10/03/2026The Borough's salaries and wages lines paid Atlantic Health System's community health education invoices from 2018 through 2025, on 8-01-27-826-111 in 2018 and on its 27-785-111 and 27-723-111 lines after (vendor history pp1 to 4).
The August and September 2025 invoices, 453.75 and 151.25, were paid from 5-01-27-785-111 by check 45575 on 10/31/2025. The next two invoices went to settlement account 4-01-40-340-201. Community health education for 55.00 was paid by check 45721 on 11/26/2025, and the November 2025 invoice for 158.40 by check 45990 on 12/23/2025. The FY2026 report counts them in its Community Health Education program (pp4 to 6). The settlement money paid a cost the Borough's own budget had carried every year since 2018.
supplantation · 3 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2024 report certifies Movement as Medicine at 900.00 expended under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training and the Schedule B strategy Prevent Misuse of Opioids (pp3 to 4).
The 900.00 is five instructor payments from account 4-01-40-340-201. On 05/22/2024, 375.00 by check 43261 and yoga 300.00 by check 43316. On 06/19/2024, yoga 75.00 by check 43439, pilates 75.00 by check 43396 and yoga 75.00 by check 43436. Yoga and pilates classes are not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no listed use covers them. No curriculum or other record of substance use content was produced. Two months before, the Health Department's operational supplies line 4-01-27-785-23A paid the same yoga instructor and the same pilates instructor 75.00 each for a Yoga for Health and a Pilates for Health class, checks 43148 and 43096 on 04/17/2024.
program-misclassification · 3 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2025 report certifies DARE at 3,591.81 expended under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training (pp5 to 6).
1,162.00 of it is short sleeve navy T-shirts from MBM Specialty Advertising, purchase order 25-00450, check 44686 on 03/19/2025. T-shirts are not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no listed use covers them. The AWARE Programs line had bought DARE T-shirts from the same vendor in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In FY2026 the settlement account paid the same vendor another 1,069.70 for DARE T-shirts, check 46358 on 03/13/2026.
program-misclassification · 3 documents · 10/04/2026The FY2024 report certifies Under the Influence, a panel discussion, at 743.66 expended under Primary Prevention, Education, and Training (pp4 to 6).
The block says the Borough purchased a tablecloth for upcoming tabling events. The 743.66 includes 332.74 paid to MBM Specialty Advertising for a Health Dept table throw, purchase order 24-00983, check 43407 on 06/19/2024. A tablecloth is not among the uses Exhibit E lists, and no listed use covers it. No tabling event using it is documented.
program-misclassification · 3 documents · 10/04/2026Patterns this jurisdiction appears in: Funding-source substitution · Fake encumbrances · Phantom programs
The ledger, as printed.
Account 4-01-40-340-201, as printed from the jurisdiction's own accounting system. Classification follows the Exhibit E gates.
| Date | Check | PO | Payee and description | Amount | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05/22/2024 | 43223 | 24-00982 | JEANNETTE DAVISON, RN, CNP · REIMBURSEMENT FOR SUPPLIES | 160.92 | Paid · Unverified |
| 05/22/2024 | 43229 | 24-00999 | DR. DEVADAN · HONORARIUM/UNDER THE INFLUENCE | 250.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 05/22/2024 | 43261 | 24-00980 | KAREN WESTHELLE · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE | 375.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 05/22/2024 | 43316 | 24-00981 | SUSAN ORKAND · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE - YOGA | 300.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 06/19/2024 | 43396 | 24-01090 | KAREN WESTHELLE · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE-PILATES | 75.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 06/19/2024 | 43407 | 24-00983 | MBM SPECIALTY ADVERTISING · HEALTH DEPT TABLE THROW | 332.74 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 06/19/2024 | 43436 | 24-01092 | NANCY SMITH · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE - YOGA | 75.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 06/19/2024 | 43439 | 24-01089 | SUSAN ORKAND · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE - YOGA | 75.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44073 | 24-01929 | JO ANN DOW-BRESLIN · MOVMENT AS MEDICINE - ZUMBA | 450.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44103 | 24-01844 | JOSEPHINE COPPOLA · HANDWRITING ANALYSIS | 250.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44164 | 24-01931 | RINGWOOD VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE · CHARGES FOR ROOM USAGE | 150.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 11/26/2024 | 44180 | 24-01927 | NANCY SMITH · MOVEMENT AS MEDICINE - YOGA/ME | 600.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44183 | 24-01928 | SUSAN ORKAND · MOVEMENT AS MEDICINE -YOGA | 375.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44190 | 24-01930 | SUSAN CLARK · MOVEMENT FOR MEDICINE - HIKES | 600.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2024 | 44191 | 24-01932 | SUZANNE RUBINETTI · MOVEMENT AS MEDICINE-WORKSHOP | 275.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 02/26/2025 | 44607 | 24-01933 | ALYSSA PULICI · FALL SESSION - GIRLS ON RUN | 1,200.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 03/19/2025 | 44646 | 25-00451 | CREATIVE PRODUCT SOURCING, INC · DARE ITEMS AS PER ATTACHED | 2,429.81 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 03/19/2025 | 44686 | 25-00450 | MBM SPECIALTY ADVERTISING · SHORT SLEEVE NAVY T-SHIRTS | 1,162.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 11/26/2025 | 45721 | 25-01961 | ATLANTIC HEALTH SYSTEM · COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION | 55.00 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 12/10/2025 | 45914 | 25-02128 | JEANNETTE DAVISON · REFRESHMENTS-LETS CLEAR AIR | 44.17 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 12/10/2025 | 45919 | 25-02127 | DR. DEVADAN · (no description shown) | 300.00 | Paid · Unverified |
| 12/23/2025 | 45990 | 25-02201 | ATLANTIC HEALTH SYSTEM · COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUC - NOV25 | 158.40 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 03/13/2026 | 46324 | 26-00213 | CREATIVE PRODUCT SOURCING, INC · LIST, PLUS SHIPPING (DARE items) | 2,093.28 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| 03/13/2026 | 46358 | 26-00212 | MBM SPECIALTY ADVERTISING · DARE T-SHIRTS AS PER ATTACHED | 1,069.70 | Paid · Non-conforming |
| Total paid | 12,856.02 | ||||
| Conforming abatement spending | 0.00 |
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 $4,523.09, 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 Ringwood tell the State it spent the money on?
It certified 8 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
Ringwood Borough
Ringwood Borough certified its police DARE program to the State as new, reported an encumbrance and balances its books do not support, and left 4,986.24 of spending out of its FY2025 and FY2026 reports.