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Opioid Abatement Authority briefs board; county to contribute $75,000 to regional rehabilitation project
Summary
The Opioid Abatement Authority explained settlement fund distribution to counties, reported about $475,000 held for Tazewell in OAA accounts and said the county is scheduled to receive direct settlement payments; the board approved a $75,000 regional contribution to a community rehabilitation project.
Tony McDowell, executive director of the Opioid Abatement Authority, briefed the board on Sept. 10 about statewide settlements, local distributions and regional grant opportunities. He said settlements and related distributions will provide significant funding for Virginia: "Virginia, as a whole, is expected to receive a total of about $1,000,000,000," McDowell said, and added that the authority currently holds about $475,000 on behalf of Tazewell County in an OAA account available to draw on now.
McDowell described two cooperative regional projects in which Tazewell participates: Project Pathfinder, serving drug-recovery courts across Southwest Virginia, and CCORE, a 90-day community residential program for DOC-involved individuals; the OAA and partner localities have provided seed and match funding to leverage additional authority funding. He said some direct settlement payments will also go to counties rather than through the OAA and that Tazewell is slated to receive over $1,000,000 in direct distributions by the fiscal year end.
Following the presentation, the opioid abatement committee recommended and the board approved contributing $75,000 from the county's regional OAA account to the regional CCORE rehabilitation project. The motion carried by voice vote.
McDowell offered OAA technical assistance resources, including webinars, best-practice toolkits and regionally targeted workshops, and encouraged continued local planning to maximize the long-term benefits of multi-year settlement funding.
