Polk County outlines $9.9M on-hand opioid settlement plan and moves to adopt county naloxone policy

Polk County Behavioral Health staff presented the Board of Supervisors with an update on opioid settlement funds and proposed a county policy to make naloxone widely available in county buildings.

Gabby, a Polk County Behavioral Health & Disability Services (BHDS) staff member, told supervisors the county currently has $9,900,000 on hand in opioid settlement funds and is projected to receive $32,000,000 “by FY 40,” figures she said came from the auditor’s office. Gabby said Polk County’s settlement dollars are separate from any state-administered funds and must be spent on remediation strategies — i.e., evidence-based programs that help people with substance use disorders or co-occurring disorders.

Gabby outlined near-term and FY26 program proposals including:

- A temporary housing assistance program (stakeholder-recommended) proposed at $1,000,000 to pay short-term rent for people entering substance-use treatment; county staff estimated the fund would cover roughly 200 people if the assistance averaged two months’ rent per person, though the presenter did not provide a formal rent-average calculation at the meeting.

- An Overdose Response Team to coordinate post-overdose outreach across Polk County in partnership with the Des Moines Fire Department and Full Circle Recovery Community Center; the proposed team would go to residences after nonfatal overdoses to offer rapid connection to treatment and…