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Health and Human Services holds 2025 budget hearing; staff reports opioid settlement money and program spending
Summary
Sawyer County Health and Human Services held a public hearing on July 9 on the 2025 budget. Staff told the committee the county expects about $1.08 million in opioid settlement disbursements through 2038, reviewed current spending and said grant timing has reduced near-term opioid-dollar outlays.
Sawyer County Health and Human Services convened a public hearing July 9 to solicit input on the department’s draft 2025 budget and to review program spending and anticipated revenue from opioid settlements.
A department presenter reviewed required topics for the hearing, including agency services in 2024, unmet needs, local and state budget implications, and projections for 2025. The presenter said the county expects about $1.08 million in opioid settlement disbursements through 2038 and has received just under $300,000 to date; of the amounts received, roughly $130,000 has been budgeted and approximately $160,000 remains in the county opioid account.
Staff described how they are “braiding” and “blending” funds—using specific HHS grants and other time-limited revenue to cover prevention and advertising activities that otherwise might have been paid from opioid settlement dollars. That approach, staff said, allowed the department to reallocate some opioid funds to other priorities while still accomplishing prevention work, including billboards, gas-station ads and theater advertising.
The department also previewed a forthcoming vaping-prevention initiative and described a texting program called School Pulse intended to connect students and families to clinicians and social workers for round‑the‑clock support. Staff reported outreach metrics for opioid-related programming: more than 3,200 residents attended fentanyl presentations (about half were children under 18), more than 190 residents completed online Narcan training and in-person Narcan distribution reached over 1,000 residents. Staff said theater ads average about 4,000 monthly views and county billboards account for roughly 330,000 monthly views.
Committee members asked about allowable uses of opioid settlement funds; staff pointed to the settlement documents’ appendix E as the list of eligible categories and said the county uses standardized state reporting forms to document expenditures.
Procedural note: the committee approved minutes from the June 11 meeting by voice vote during the session.
What’s next: staff said they will present a clearer revenue-versus-expense breakdown for mental-health transports and Winnebago billing next month to support decisions in the upcoming budget process.
