Warren County's county attorney briefed the Personnel Administration Higher Education Committee July 31 on three nationwide opioid settlement agreements the county intends to join and asked the committee to authorize resolutions enabling participation.
County attorney staff said one settlement involves Purdue Pharma and the Sackler-related plan, describing a proposed $6.5 billion nationwide settlement with an initial payment of $1.5 billion scheduled for 2026 and further payments spread over 15 years; that plan is subject to bankruptcy-court approval and the resolution would also authorize the board chair to execute any necessary bankruptcy-court documents. A second proposed nationwide plan involves manufacturer Sandoz for an amount described in the packet as just under $100 million. A third plan combines eight manufacturers with a mixture of lump-sum payments, multi-year payments and in some cases provision of products used to treat overdoses.
The county attorney explained that nationwide settlements typically require a threshold level of municipal participation (often 70' 80 percent) for the agreements and payment schedules to take effect; local participation helps secure distributions to municipalities through an independent claims administrator that will allocate and distribute funds according to each settlement's formula. "The numbers you see in these settlements are in the billions," county attorney staff said, "which does not mean Warren County is receiving a billion dollars. It means Warren County, along with all of the other participating municipalities, will receive a share determined by the claims administrator."
Committee members asked how received funds would be used; the county attorney said settlement agreements are specific and generally direct funds to opioid abatement activities at the county level. The committee moved to bring the resolutions to the floor and approved the request to participate; the motion carried by voice vote.
The county attorney said participation is the practical route for the county to recover funds for local abatement and treatment programs and that opting out would leave the county to pursue independent litigation with substantially higher costs.