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Missoula officials outline small local shares from national opioid settlements, funds limited to abatement
Summary
County staff reported preliminary estimates that Missoula County and the Missoula Metropolitan Region would receive modest, multi‑year payments from pending Purdue Sackler and other opioid settlements; money must be spent on opioid abatement as defined in the national MDL settlement documents.
Missoula County staff told commissioners on Aug. 27 that pending national opioid settlements could bring only modest sums to the county and the joint Missoula Metropolitan Region and that the money must be used for opioid abatement. John, a county staff member, said the county’s share from a proposed Purdue/Sackler settlement would be about $182,000 spread over a number of years, while the Missoula Metropolitan Region’s share could be about $1,066,000 over the same period. He said a separate settlement with eight smaller manufacturers could yield “just south of $26,000” for the county and about $148,000 for the metro region over multiple years.
The payments would be paid over time; John said the settlements’ payments are “paid over 15 years” and commissioners noted that dividing the totals by that period results in small annual amounts. John also explained the legal and administrative flow: if a sufficient number of local and state governments participate, the settlements are approved by the court and funds flow to the State of Montana, which distributes money to the Missoula Metropolitan Region under preexisting state agreements worked out with the Montana Department of Justice.
Commissioners asked how the money may be used. John said, “The money has to be spent on opioid abatement. And there is a definition for opioid abatement that’s about a page long. It is… very expansive, but at the end of the day, there has to be some relationship to the opioid crisis and helping people that need help who have been victimized.” He added, “we couldn't take opioid money and fix the intersection,” to underscore that general infrastructure projects are not eligible.
Commissioners and staff also discussed timing and next steps: the county must decide whether to vote in favor of the Purdue bankruptcy plan under deadlines later that week and must agree by late September/October whether to participate in the two individual settlements. John said the distribution rules and the metro-region allocation method are consistent with prior statewide settlement agreements.
Why this matters: commissioners noted the county’s current task force and recent one‑time funds give Missoula sizable resources this year, and that these new settlement proceeds would only modestly add to that pool. The amounts discussed are preliminary and contingent on national settlement approvals and Montana’s distribution process.
