(BRICK TOWNSHIP) --- Elected officials will receive nearly $90k in National Opioid funds.
Brick Township Council approved another grant of $87,061.57 into the 2026 budget for the National Opioid Resolution during the July 21 meeting.
The resolution states that the money will be placed as an “item of revenue” in the 2026 budget.
Township Councilwoman Melissa Travers explained that the grant is a part of a “national settlement to resolve opioid litigation,” and that the funds are “specifically earmarked for opioid addiction programs and services.”
In 2017, Brick Township filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that manufactured opioid painkillers. The township was seeking to be compensated for the opioid crisis in the town.
(Brick Township’s Council approved a grant in the allocated amount of $87,061.57 to the 2026 budget for the National Opioid Crisis on July 21.)
Over the past two years, the township has received over $1 million from the national lawsuit. In 2024, the township received $943,539, and in 2025, $193,600, according to Shorebeat.
The population within the town determines the funding, which will be dispersed through 2038.
"The number of opioid-related deaths that occurred during relevant timeframes and the number of people who are estimated to have become addicted to the drugs,” according to Shorebeat.
In the June 23 meeting, the township council approved a grant of $11,423.13 in the budget to be allocated to the National Opioid Resolution.
Resident Michael Calderise questioned then where the funding goes and further asked, “Does that get funneled into some of our programs?”
(Michael Calderise speaking during the June 23 Brick Township Council meeting, bringing into question where the grant funds were going.)
Brick Township’s Business Administrator Joanne Bergin explained that it is “very defined” what the allocated money can be used for under the settlement.
“That is for drug prevention, education of the public or providing services in the mission of drug treatment," Bergin said.
Calderise then questioned whether the money goes to “different companies or in-house,” to which Bergin replied that it could go to different companies, as well as to the delivery of services.
Bergin then pointed to the purchase of a new ambulance with the funds, showing the money is used exactly for what it is intended to serve.
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