Opioid Abatement Authority grants committee approves state agency award amendments and reviews carry-forwards

At a grants committee meeting, members of the Opioid Abatement Authority unanimously approved staff-recommended amendments to existing state agency awards and heard a detailed update on city, county and state grant activity from Charlie, the authority’s director of operations.

Charlie told the committee that fiscal-year 2025 city and county award packages have been sent to recipients; many awardees have returned signed documents and some fund transfers are complete, while a few cooperative multi-jurisdictional projects remain finalizing operational agreements and documentation. The city and county grant cycle is open from October 1 through April 1, 2025, he said.

The director reported that nearly all state agency awards from the most recent round have been issued and staff expect to complete final revisions to start the two-step appropriation and fund-transfer process. Most state agency annual reports and carry-forward requests from FY24 to FY25 have been received; one agency is still working through amendments. Charlie said state annual reports are due December 9 and the next proposal window opens in March.

On administrative adjustments, Charlie described the committee’s standard approach to approving carry-forwards and true-ups: carry-forward amounts are estimates until post-performance reporting, approvals are intended to accommodate timing and one-time costs rather than expand a project’s recurring budget, and agencies must remain within the original project scope unless they pursue a formal scope change.

Charlie reviewed several agency-specific items the staff recommended for amendment or carry-forward.

- Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services: a planned carry-forward for a substance-use data analyst was initially projected at about $11,000 but rose to roughly $31,000 because of hiring delays; the additional carry-forward will cover one-time training and travel tied to onboarding and stakeholder outreach.

- Virginia Department of Health (harm reduction program): the department will use carry-forward funds for administrative capacity, supplies and site development to build comprehensive harm-reduction sites.

- Virginia Department of Health (supply procurement): a previously planned bulk purchase shifted to a buy-as-needed model after unit-price declines; the department expects to use remaining funds (reported in committee as approximately $600,000) over an additional performance period.

- Office of the Executive Secretary for the Supreme Court: statewide universal drug-testing grants for specialty dockets operate on a reimbursement basis and timing lags have caused expenses to move between performance periods; staff recommended carry-forward adjustments to reconcile those timing differences.

- Virginia Cooperative Extension / Virginia Tech partnership: adoption of prevention curricula lagged initial expectations in year one; carry-forward funds will buy additional curriculum and support a larger rollout with elevated performance measures.

- Virginia Indigent Defense Commission: a recovery-specialists program in public defender offices expanded its scope from seven localities to 15; filling delays and lower-than-expected travel costs mean available funds will be used for one-time set-up needs such as office space, furniture and software licenses.

Charlie summarized the staff recommendation: these amendments do not appropriate new funding but authorize agencies additional time and administrative flexibility to spend funds already awarded, reducing the administrative burden of returning and re-requesting money.

The public comment period produced no speakers. Under new business the chair asked for a motion to approve the staff-recommended amendments to existing state agency awards; a motion was made and seconded and the committee approved the amendments unanimously. Committee members discussed sequencing and the code’s restrictions on consecutive all-virtual meetings; by meeting in person now the committee can hold an all-virtual grants meeting on December 6 to consider additional amendments and new city/county applications that would allow localities to receive funds sooner.

The committee adjourned following a motion to close the meeting.