Council seeks review of opioid trust accounting and first-responder tax-break paperwork

A Northampton County councilmember asked the finance committee to review how the county is holding and spending opioid-trust funds and to produce the paperwork sent to local chiefs administering a first-responder tax break, saying the materials chiefs receive differ from the ordinance the council passed.

Councilmember Laurie (full name not provided) told the committee that when the ordinance was adopted she used language from Dauphin County and Bucks County and expected the county paperwork to match that ordinance. “It appears that the language that they're being given is very different than the ordinance that we passed,” she said. “Somewhere between this ordinance and the chief receiving it, there's a translation of that language that is not what we believed we intended.”

Laurie said her concern is not necessarily that applications are being rejected but that the county appears to have changed the eligibility parameters or the explanatory materials without council action. She asked that the finance department bring a copy of the ordinance and the information being conveyed to local chiefs to the next finance committee meeting so members can compare language and identify who made any changes.

Finance staff agreed to add the first-responder paperwork review to the next finance committee agenda and to include an update on the opioid-trust fund. Laurie said she believes opioid-trust funds should be held in separate accounts rather than blended into other budgets; she asked for confirmation of how the money is being held and spent.

The committee did not record a formal vote; staff said they would provide the requested documents and an update at the next meeting.