The City of Owensboro could receive just over $1 million dollars in opioid settlement funds dispersed over the next few years, according to local officials.
Through two settlements in 2021 — one involving the manufacturer Janssen and one involving three major distributors — Owensboro has already received approximately $267,000. Angela Waninger, City Director of Finance & Support Services, said Tuesday during a Work Session that the City is slated to receive up to nearly $1.161 million, but that depends on the actual payouts.
Janssen’s settlement has a caveat where 74% of the total $5 billion settlement must be distributed in the first 3 years, and the remaining 26% can be dispersed over the following 6 years.
Waninger said an additional settlement processed in 2022 includes major pharmacy chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, and manufacturers Teva and Allergan. That settlement will disperse a total of $18.5 million in settlement funds to opt-in cities. Waninger said Owensboro has opted in to receive funds; however, a payment amount and timeframe have not yet been decided.
Waninger said not much is concrete about the settlements except that Janssen will not submit another payment for the next 5 years.
“As I look, any estimates for future amounts are speculative, and that’s just due to the intricacies involved in structuring the settlement payments,” Waninger said.
City Attorney Mark Pfiefer said the funds must be used toward what the state considers “opioid remediation,” which is detailed in full here.
It includes reimbursing the cost of outpatient and residential treatment services, emergency response services, and administering opioid defenses such as Narcan. In addition to reimbursement, the City can use the funds for 29 project categories — which Pfiefer reduced to six overarching categories:
- Treatment and recovery services
- Life support services
- Education/training
- Mother/child – recovery and support for pregnant women or neonatal treatment
- Legal/judicial – treatment for inmates with an opioid addiction
- Catch-all – includes programs that are created that need approval before going into place
Mayor Tom Watson said some legislatures are allowing communities to speak in Frankfort, and he will work to ensure Owensboro will have a representative.
“Opioids are bad. There is money, now we need to get it to people that are affected,” Watson said. “…I speak on this because, when I got hurt, I got addicted to morphine. I can tell you how deadly hard it is to get rid of an addiction.”
