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Commission approves county and regional opioid abatement priority lists; staff says funding will target direct services
Summary
The board approved county and regional priority lists for opioid abatement funding and directed staff to proceed with RFPs; commissioners and advocates said the intent is to fund direct services such as medically assisted treatment, housing and supportive services, not just administrative programs.
Pinellas County commissioners approved two priority lists for opioid abatement funding on Tuesday — one for county‑administered funds and one for regional allocations — and directed staff to submit the county list to the Florida Department of Children and Families as required.
Commissioner Mike Nowicki described the goal for the funding as supporting direct services to people with opioid use disorder: “Our hope and our goal is to be direct services…to have transformative change to this system,” he said during discussion of a registered speaker’s concerns. The board and staff said the county portion of funds will go to expand medically assisted treatment, housing and other gaps in service; regional funds will be allocated after coordination with other jurisdictions.
The item passed unanimously. Staff said RFPs and applications will follow the approved priorities and that funding proposals will be evaluated against the approved priorities and returned to the board as required.
Ending: Staff will release RFPs under the approved priorities and evaluate proposals; contracted programs and subrecipients will be subject to county procurement and grant monitoring rules.
