State official: Hagerstown must submit local abatement plan by July 1 to unlock $378,528 in opioid settlement funds

A state official told the Hagerstown Mayor and City Council on Nov. 4 that the city must file a local abatement plan by July 1 to receive a second stream of opioid-settlement money or risk those funds reverting to the county.

Avery Meyer, opioid restitution fund program director at the Maryland Office of Overdose Response, said Maryland's settlement distributes funds in four streams: a state allocation and a state discretionary abatement fund (each 15 percent), local direct funding (25 percent) that goes straight to subdivisions, and targeted abatement grant (TAG) funds (45 percent) that the state releases after approving local abatement plans.

"Currently, the city of Hagerstown should have received $184,296 in local direct payments as of 07/01/2025. There's an additional $378,528 available as of July 1, but those are targeted abatement grant funds," Meyer said. "Our office cannot release that until the city submits a local abatement plan, and we are able to review and approve that."

Meyer said payments under the…