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Wayne County amends opioid-settlement spending plan after state review; $2.35 million allocated
Summary
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners approved an amended resolution directing $2,354,675 in opioid settlement funds after changes required by the North Carolina Department of Justice. The county removed an ineligible line item for a lead juvenile detective under one funding option and clarified several program descriptions.
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 7 approved an amended resolution directing the expenditure of opioid settlement funds after state review required several changes.
County staff told commissioners the amended resolution, labeled 2025-22, revised language to satisfy reviewers at the North Carolina Department of Justice and the Association of County Commissioners. The most substantive change removed funding for a lead juvenile detective under the county’s proposed Option A early-intervention use because that use must be “specifically targeted to juveniles who have a history of opioid abuse,” staff said. The manager said the county had not spent any of the funds tied to that line item and was working with the sheriff’s office to identify other funding options.
The staff presentation also said other edits were largely clarifying: modifying the 4-day movement award to specify it targets people with a history of opioid use; aligning an overdose-prevention award to explicitly relate to opioid overdoses; relabeling a health-department award from “recovery support services” to “post-overdose response team”; and correcting a contract start date for a vendor listed as IMS because the earlier start date predated the resolution passage.
After those changes, the county reported the total award listed in the resolution is $2,354,675. County staff said the Department of Justice has reviewed and accepted the amended language and that the county has received a substantial portion of the settlement payments over multiple payment waves tied to national settlements with distributors, pharmacies and retailers.
Commissioner Reeves made the motion to approve the amended resolution; the board voted to adopt it. County staff said they will upload the signed amended resolution into the state database as required.
Why it matters: opioid settlement funds are restricted by legal settlement terms and state guidance; the Department of Justice’s review narrowed eligible uses in this case and required the county to tighten program descriptions before the county may proceed with the specific line-item spending described in the resolution.
What’s next: staff said they will continue working with the sheriff’s office and other partners to identify allowable funding pathways for programs the county considers priorities and will submit the signed amended resolution to state reviewers.
