Edison told the state it spent $1,179,981 in settlement money on police personnel costs, the state has no report on file from 18 towns and the state agency that collects the reports says no law gives it the job of making sure towns spend the money appropriately.
Edison Township in Middlesex County told the state it spent $1,179,981 in opioid settlement money over the year that ended June 30 on police personnel costs, money state law says must add to, not replace, what towns would otherwise spend.
The New Jersey Department of Human Services posted those self-reported filings this week for the 262 counties and towns that collect their own share of national opioid settlement money. Several put money toward police and fire costs. The state lists no report at all from 18 towns.
The department that collects the reports says no law or agreement gives it the job of making sure local governments spend the money appropriately. The state Comptroller's office reads the law differently.
Edison called its program the "Police Opioid Response Capacity Building & Coordination Initiative" and listed it under the form's approved strategies for first responders, planning and training.
The work "required participation across the Department rather than assignment to a single specialized officer or unit," the township wrote. So settlement money "supported a limited allocation of Police Department personnel costs associated with planning, coordination, education and information sharing, operational integration, data and reporting activities."
The main expense was "an allocation of existing Township Police Department personnel costs," the township told the state. The allocation, Edison added, "was not intended to replace the Township's ordinary responsibility for funding general law-enforcement operations."
Edison officials did not respond by deadline to questions sent Friday afternoon asking which costs make up the $1,179,981 and whether those costs were already in the police budget.
New Brunswick, also in Middlesex County, reported $520,000 in settlement spending over the same year on a program it lists as "POLICE/FIRE TRAINING AND SUPPORT." The city's filing counts 42 "services provided/encounters."
A year earlier, the city reported $733,825.35 for the same program, with a note reading "FUNDING USED FOR FIRE DEPT ONLY AS THESE INTERACTIONS OCCUR MORE FREQUENTLY." That report listed 42 encounters, too.
New Brunswick did not respond by deadline to questions about what the $520,000 bought and what the encounters were.
Pennsauken Township in Camden County reported $226,269 in spending on a program it calls "First Responders." "The Township's budget is only able to handle the current hourly rate of $18/hour for part-time EMTs," the township wrote. "The grants funds are being used to pay the additional $9 per hour rate."
"Budget funds are NOT being supplanted," Pennsauken told the state in the same filing, adding that each worker's share is "charged directly to the grant funds for the portion above and beyond what our normal budget can handle."
Pennsauken did not respond by deadline to questions about whether the extra pay goes to EMTs already on staff.
The rules say the money must add to local spending, not replace it
The money comes from national settlements with drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers, worth more than $1.1 billion through 2038 to the state and its counties and towns, according to the state Comptroller's office.
Under a 2022 agreement with its counties and towns, the state keeps half the money. The other half goes straight to local governments, never passing through state accounts.
Under a 2023 state law, settlement money "shall be used to supplement, and shall not supplant," the federal, state, county or municipal dollars that otherwise would have paid for the same purposes.
The Comptroller's office puts that rule in plainer words: governments "may not cover the cost of already existing programs using the opioid settlement funds." They have to start new strategies grounded in evidence instead.
Police are not shut out. The national list of approved uses includes law enforcement training, first-responder wellness services and police diversion programs. It also covers the categories Edison cited: under planning and coordination, "staffing at government or not-for-profit agencies to support collaborative, cross-system coordination" and "resources to staff government oversight and management of opioid abatement programs."
The Comptroller's office describes that national list as "non-exhaustive."
Whether charging part of an existing payroll to settlement money meets the supplement rule is the question the filings leave open. Neither Human Services nor the Comptroller's office has publicly addressed allocations like Edison's.
The state collects the reports, but says checking the spending is not its job
The 2023 law names Human Services the lead agency for monitoring how counties and towns use the money "to the extent required by such agreements." The same passage also lists "ensuring that the use of such moneys complies with the purposes" of the law, "in coordination with the State Comptroller and the Attorney General."
In its annual report last November, the Comptroller's office called Human Services "the lead agency responsible for ensuring compliance with settlement agreements and state law."
Human Services reads its role more narrowly. "The governing statutes, the national settlement agreements, and the agreement do not task Human Services with the role of ensuring that local governments expend opioid settlement funds appropriately," the department said Friday in a written statement to NJBallot. "While local governments bear ultimate responsibility for ensuring appropriate use of funds, Human Services has provided general recommendations and guidance and will continue to do so."
The Comptroller's review of Irvington Township in Essex County matters now because it shows how the state checks the reports. The office later called that July 2025 investigation its "first in-depth examination of how opioid settlement funds are being used."
Irvington spent more than $632,000 on two concerts, the office found. The report also said "neither DHS nor OSC is currently verifying all of the extensive data reported."
Its annual report said the state had given towns limited oversight and only broad spending rules, and that counties and towns have no formal way to ask what they may buy.
Irvington's case involved concerts, not police or fire costs. The office did not say whether it is reviewing this week's reports.
It referred questions about how towns can get spending guidance to Human Services.
Sen. Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, and Assemblymen Cody Miller and Dan Hutchison asked the state Attorney General's Office last month for a "review of how these funds have been spent and whether any expenditures violated the settlement requirements."
"I don't believe that there's been proper oversight of these funds," Moriarty said. "And I don't blame individual police departments because I think they've tried to get some guidance and haven't been given it."
As the lawmakers sought that review, a spokesperson for Gov. Mikie Sherrill said: "The misuse of opioid settlement funds is unacceptable."
The Attorney General's Office has not announced a response to the request. It did not respond by deadline to questions sent Friday afternoon.
The state has no report from 18 towns, and three counties reported spending nothing
Eighteen of the 241 towns have no report on file for the year, among them Paterson in Passaic County and Lakewood in Ocean County. Each of their entries reads "No Report Received."
The 2022 agreement required the reports by Sept. 1. It sets no penalty for a town that does not file.
For the 2023 and 2024 reports, Human Services flagged missing or incomplete filings to the Comptroller's office, which then followed up with the governments involved, according to the office's Irvington report. Human Services said Friday it "has contacted the subdivisions with missing reports, and notified the Office of the State Comptroller," without naming the towns or saying when. The Comptroller's office said it is working with the department to get those towns to file promptly.
Neither Paterson nor Lakewood reported spending any settlement money the year before. Paterson's 2025 filing listed $1,695,753.21 unspent. Lakewood's listed $1,145,926.24.
Since then, Paterson has hired its first chief homelessness officer, Angela Fields, in a position funded with opioid settlement money, according to a published account of her hiring in August.
Paterson and Lakewood officials did not respond by deadline to questions about the missing reports.
Cape May, Essex and Hudson counties each reported spending $0 over the year. Cape May County's advisory council "decided to delay funding any programs until the County can assess the full impact of the changes to Medicaid," the county wrote. It reported $2,674,560.31 unspent and uncommitted.
Essex County told the state it "has developed the framework and recommendations, but has not actually finalized specific spending allocations by year."
Hudson County said it had "recently engaged in a fair and open competitive process" seeking proposals.
Other filings show the money paying for treatment and recovery. Union County reported $239,014.24 for a law enforcement diversion program, and Monmouth County reported $200,230.85 for peer recovery specialists who take referrals from police. Edison itself reported $654,299.03 for addiction recovery counseling.
Miller and Assemblyman Alexander Schnall, D-Ocean, sponsor a bill that its official summary says would expand oversight and transparency of the settlement money state and local governments receive. The Legislature had not posted its text as of Friday.
"I think everyone has acknowledged that these funds should be spent for their intended purpose," Miller said.
Residents can read their own town's filing on the Department of Human Services' opioid settlement website and report suspected "fraud, waste, or abuse" of the money to the Comptroller's hotline, 1-855-OSC-TIPS.
NJBallot will report the towns' and agencies' answers as they come in.
Related Articles
NJ Medicaid Fraud Recovery Is Real. The Math Behind It Is Brutal.
NJ Homelessness Hits Highest Level Since 2014 as Medicaid, SNAP Cuts Deepen
Sources
Gothamist, "Paterson taps new leader to fight homelessness in NJ" (Aug. 24, 2026)
National opioid distributor settlement agreement, Exhibit E, list of opioid remediation uses
New Jersey Department of Human Services, FY2025 local opioid settlement reports, Middlesex, Ocean and Passaic county compilations
New Jersey Department of Human Services, FY2026 local opioid settlement reports, county compilations (Oct. 1, 2026)
New Jersey Department of Human Services, opioid settlement website, reports page (accessed Oct. 2, 2026)
New Jersey Department of Human Services, written statement to NJBallot (Oct. 2, 2026)
New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A5588, bill synopsis on opioid settlement fund oversight (accessed Oct. 2, 2026)
New Jersey Legislature, P.L.2023, c.25, New Jersey's opioid settlement fund law
NJ.com, "N.J. towns wasted millions meant to save lives. State leaders want a 'review.'" (September 2026); "Towns wasted millions on concerts and a muscle car. N.J. leader demands change." (Oct. 1, 2026)
Office of the State Comptroller, "An Investigation of Irvington's Mismanagement of Opioid Settlement Funds" (July 8, 2025)
Office of the State Comptroller, "Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report" (November 2025)
Office of the State Comptroller, "Opioid Settlement Funds" resources page (accessed Oct. 2, 2026)
Office of the State Comptroller, response to NJBallot questions (Oct. 2, 2026)
State of New Jersey and participating local governments, Memorandum of Agreement on national opioid settlement funds (Jan. 28, 2022)
Photo: Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels