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Officials: settlement money limited, reporting burdens and misclassified deaths curb Martin County’s opioid payout
Summary
County leaders said Martin County’s opioid settlement funds are limited, subject to strict allowable uses and detailed reporting, and that misclassification of overdose deaths can reduce a county’s share; officials pointed to staffing and cost limits for more intensive response models.
County officials used the April 9 special Opioid Litigation meeting to emphasize limits on how Martin County can use settlement funds and to flag administrative hurdles that slow program approvals.
County Manager Drew Batts told the Board that allowable uses and detailed reporting requirements constrain how local agencies can spend settlement dollars and that the county lacks resources to replicate more costly response models used elsewhere: "With the funding received, the county could not afford to provide paramedics with Quick Response Vehicles (QRV's) that doubled as an overdose response team and opioid education unit like Edgecombe County," Batts said. He contrasted Edgecombe County's reported roughly $40 million in recovered settlement funds with Martin County's roughly $4 million over time.
Commissioner Ronnie Smith raised a separate data concern, saying that some opioid-related deaths are misclassified as other causes — a practice he said reduces a county's counted overdose deaths and therefore can lower settlement shares when distributions consider death counts. Smith said families sometimes do not want the cause listed as opioid-related; Batts and others agreed that higher recorded overdose rates in other counties can explain larger settlements.
Sheriff Drew Robinson reported that the Sheriffs' Office stocks patrol cars with Narcan to reduce deaths from overdoses, a practice county leaders commended. Batts also described lengthy timelines for approvals and reporting: he said it took three months to modify strategies Martin County Schools submitted for prevention work and that the county was still awaiting approval for a previously submitted opioid resolution from the health department even though similar measures were approved in prior years.
No formal funding votes were taken at the meeting. Officials said municipalities and agencies should submit detailed proposals that meet the MOA's allowable-use definitions and reporting requirements before the Board can commit funds.
