Jul. 1—Local government involved in the state's many opioid lawsuits are beginning to approve settlements with opioid manufacturers negotiated by West Virginia's attorney general and coming to the realization that their share of the settlement is far less than expected.

On Tuesday, the Greenbrier County Commission approved a $26 million settlement agreement with opioid manufacturer Endo Health Solutions that was negotiated by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and announced in March.

Of these funds, the amount going directly to Greenbrier County is roughly $76,530.

This does not include the amount going to local city governments in Greenbrier County, such as Lewisburg, White Sulphur Springs and others, that are also involved in these litigations.

While Greenbrier County commissioners will have the opportunity to apply for more of the settlement funding, they will have to compete for that funding with more than 280 local governments in West Virginia.

Greenbrier County's allotment of opioid settlement funds is based on a formula outlined in documents drafted by the attorney general's office which establishes how the settlement funds will be distributed to local governments and how they can be used.

Greenbrier County Commissioner Tammy Tincher said she never envisioned that the state would have so much involvement in the distribution of these settlement funds.

"For me personally, the fact (is) that the state has become involved in this and has more control over it than what was initially intended when counties and municipalities joined these suits," Tincher said. "That was one of the biggest things when counties and municipalities joined, this was going to be something that we were doing individually and collectively, but it was not something that the state would be involved in as far as distribution of funds, and that has become the case now."

In order to be involved in the distribution process, counties must agree to the terms of the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding, which the Greenbrier County Commission did in April.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was written at the directive of a multi-district litigations panel at the Supreme Court, which is overseeing dozens of cases filed against opioid firms in the state court, according to a February article in The Herald-Dispatch.

The details of the West Virginia First agreement were announced at the end of February by Morrisey, who said that local governments and entities involved in the litigation process had contributed to the overall agreement.

According to this agreement, after attorney fees are taken out of a lump settlement, 24.5 percent of the remaining dollars go directly to local governments which have been allotted a certain percentage of these funds.

Greenbrier County's share of the 24.5 percent is 1.3059 percent, which amounts to $76,530 for the Endo settlement. The West Virginia First agreement does not specify how these percentages for local governments were determined; however, Greenbrier County Attorney Britt Ludwig explained to Greenbrier commissioners that she believed it was a combination of several factors.

"I believe that it is compilation of a couple of things — not just per capita number of residents that a county has, or the municipality has, but also the extent of the (opioid) problem," Ludwig said during an April meeting. "I believe that opioid-related deaths, overdose deaths, were used as part of that as well as probably some figures about incarceration and some other things. I don't think it was just a straight calculation. I think a couple of different factors went into it, is what my understanding is, but I have to admit I do not know for certain what that calculation was."

The West Virginia First agreement lists more than 280 local governments, a group that directly received roughly a quarter of the overall settlement. Most of these entities were barely allocated 1 percent each.

Those receiving among the highest percentages were Beckley (3.3824), Charleston (6.1020), Huntington (5.9777), Logan (3.3874), Princeton (4.1839), Raleigh County (5.0240) and Wyoming County (3.6334).

The lion's share of the settlement funds goes to a private nonprofit opioid foundation established by the MOU which is being called the West Virginia First Foundation.

This foundation receives 72.5 percent of the settlement funds, and the remaining 3 percent is held in trust by the state to use for expenses incurred related to opioid litigation.

For the $26 million Endo settlement, Greenbrier County Attorney Britt Ludwig told Greenbrier Commission on Tuesday that $2.08 million of those funds was taken out as attorney fees.

This means that the amount of funds being divvied up according to the West Virginia First agreement is $23.92 million. Of those funds, roughly $5.86 million goes directly to local governments, about $17.34 million goes to the West Virginia First Foundation and just over $700,000 is held by the state.

Although local governments will be able to apply for the funding held by the West Virginia First Foundation, Tincher said it still feels like the state is remaining in control of the bulk of the settlement funds.

The way in which the foundation's funds are distributed will be determined by an 11-member board which will consist of five members appointed by the governor and six members selected by local governments.

For the purpose of this board, the state has been divided into six regions and the board members not appointed by the governor will each come from one of these six districts.

Some of these regions have as few as five counties while others encompass 10 or more counties.

Assisting the foundation's board in making these decisions will be an expert panel, which board members will appoint, in the fields of substance abuse treatment, mental health, law enforcement, pharmacology, finance and health care policy and management.

The West Virginia First agreement also include 15 pages detailing how local governments can use their allotments of funds as well as funds they receive from the foundations.

Some of these uses include drug prevention and treatment programs, law enforcement and research.

As part of the funds that go directly to local governments, the agreement states that up to half can be "used to provide restitution for monies that were previously expended on opioid abatement activities including law enforcement and regional jail bills."

Tincher said she is concerned about the amount of foundation funds that will be used for administration costs as the agreement does not give a specific figure though it does state that the foundation will have an executive director appointed by the attorney general.

Despite any reservations that local governments may have regarding this agreement, it's unknown what will happen if they decide to reject it, though none have reported to do so yet.

The full West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding can be found on the attorney general's website at ago.wv.gov.