Hillsdale County cautious about spending $2 million in opioid settle funds

Corey Murray, Hillsdale Daily News
·2 min read

HILLSDALE COUNTY — Michigan will receive nearly $1.6 billion in opioid settlement funds over 18 years with initial payments made to local governments on Jan. 31, 2023.

Hillsdale County’s initial payment was $315,994 and it is set to receive an additional $225,894 in funding this year, bringing the county’s total share to date to $541,888. In total, the county will receive approximately $2,505,718.61 in annual installments.

While the money is flowing in, the Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners remains cautious about how to spend the funding with 85-percent of funding required to be spent on opioid remediation and only 15-percent of all funding unrestricted.

Heroin
Heroin

To date, the county has used these funds to pay for overdose training for all county employees, and to purchase naloxone kits for all county officers as well as new AEDs and trauma bags.

While requests to use the funding to offset needs such as the county’s drug treatment court and Community Corrections Advisory Program have been left in limbo, the county has taken action to form an Opioid Settlement Funding Committee to ensure the allocation of funding meets strict guidelines on how it can be spent.

But Hillsdale County is not the only municipal or local level of government being overly cautious.

A survey commissioned by the Michigan Association of Counties recently showed that most counties are focused on careful planning efforts to use the funds in meaningful ways.

Commissioner Brad Benzing, the board’s public safety chair, previously spoke on the county’s cautions.

“If anything, we want to get a feel for what is deemed allowable and what is not from what other counties are doing,” Benzing said. “We don't have the funds to make mistakes and have to pay them back out of the general fund.”

Part of Hillsdale County’s frustration today is rooted in another narcotic: methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine has a wider grip on addicts in Hillsdale County

“Meth is definitely more popular right now,” said Det. Lt. Sean Street, the Region of Irish Hills Narcotics Office task force commander.

But, Street cautioned, there is “fentanyl in everything.”

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Unbeknownst addicts purchasing methamphetamine have overdosed in Hillsdale County after consuming methamphetamine laced with fentanyl, an opioid based synthetic narcotic more deadly than heroin.

“It (fentanyl) is king as far as (overdose) deaths go,” Street said. “It’s a big issue.”

Benzing said that while methamphetamine is a larger problem in Hillsdale County, synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, are becoming more common.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Commissioners cautious about opioid settlement restricted funds