Centre County set to receive next round of opioid settlement funds. How it will be used
The Centre County Commissioners on Tuesday approved participating in the second round of opioid settlement funding disbursements, after discussion about how tens of thousands of dollars from the first round has been spent, and how future funds could be used.
The funds are available as a result of settlements that took place in 2022 against national pharmacy chains as a result of negligent practices contributing to the nationwide opioid crisis. Pennsylvania is expected to receive billions of dollars over more than a decade to distribute to counties.
How much individual Pennsylvania counties received was decided by a formula that officials said considered the level of need, Spotlight PA reported in October 2023, noting that 2022 payments came to $1.13 per resident in Centre County, the lowest in the state.
While Centre County is currently receiving $90,000-$100,000 yearly from the funding, the start of the second wave means that the county could receive as much as $200,000 in additional funding each year, according County Drug and Alcohol Administrator Cathy Arbogast.
“Every year when the funds are received, we will have 18 months to use those dollars,” Arbogast said. “We’re expecting the first payment to arrive by the end of the year, and we are also expecting to receive those funds through Dec. 31, 2038.”
Arbogast told the Centre Daily Times that money received from the last wave of settlement funding has been spent on making improvements to preexisting programs and services such as professional counseling, substance use disorder programs and help securing transportation to court cases and program sessions.
The funding was also used to create and promote a media campaign about the danger of opioids, as well as to help incarcerated people who are struggling with opioid addiction recovery.
Now, Centre County is looking to spend the money from the second wave of funding on a series of improvements that will strengthen preexisting drug treatment programs and broaden transportation capabilities.
“These opioid settlement funds are really important for us and the services that we’re able to provide because of them, including our medication-assisted treatment program and at this point, for transportation for people who are participating in our specialty courts,” Commissioner Amber Concepcion said. “There are constrictions on how we apply these funds, but they’re all used in important ways to support people who are dealing with the consequences of opioid addiction.”
Arbogast agreed with the importance of the funds, saying that providing transportation to people in need of opioid addiction treatment or those that have a hard time making it to court has been a “real problem,” and one that the county will likely mark as an initial priority for the second round of funding.
The funding can’t be spent on just anything though, restrictions are listed in Exhibit E —the United States’ official list of what the money can, and can’t, be spent on.
County government officials have discretion over how the funds are used, but there was scrutiny early on about the usage, with some counties weighing policing and treatment improvements, Spotlight PA reported last year. The Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust oversees how counties are using the funding.
While Centre County looks to be spend the money on more treatment and transportation-based items, further expenditures by the county in the years to come have not yet been determined.
