The Greene County Budget and Finance committee made a motion to move forward with the disbursement of Opioid Settlement funds, totaling almost than $334,000.
Commissioner Robin Quillen constructed a resolution that will be drafted by County Attorney Roger Woolsey and will be presented at the next County Commission meeting for final approval. Out of the almost $334,000 the county received from the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, $200,000 would go to the Anti-drug Coalition, $100,000 would go to Drug Court, and the remaining almost $34,000 would be split between the L. E. A. D. Program and Frontier Health.
Opioid Settlement funds are a one time payment from the Abatement Council and funds have to be used for remediation purposes such as prevention programs, services for pregnant and postpartum women, treatment for the incarcerated population, as well as medication assisted treatments or other FDA approved drugs to reverse overdose. Once all the funds are distributed the county mayor could apply for more through the Abatement Council.
Greene County Mayor Kevin Morrison says once these funds are gone they’re gone, so they need to be used appropriately and have to be reported. If the Opioid funds are not used the right way the county will have to pay it back. There is a total of $613 M from the settlement that will be disbursed over the next 18 years statewide.
