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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Joint New Hanover County-Wilmington committee closer to allocating opioid settlement funds

Joint committee meeting on January 10, 2023
Rachel Keith
/
WHQR
Joint committee meeting on January 10, 2023

The joint New Hanover County-City of Wilmington committee on the opioid settlement proceeds is getting closer to finalizing its first five-year spending plan for about $7.1 million.

According to Jessica Loeper, the county's chief communications officer, the committee is planning to have no more than about 5% of this funding set aside as a reserve, so that they can “scale programs according to the needs of the community.”

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who helped reach the settlement with opioid drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Johnson and Johnson, laid out guidelines for what counties and municipalities could spend the money on.

Over the next 18 years, the county will be receiving $18,662,022 from the settlement. For the city, it’s a sum of $769,714. These amounts will be combined based on an interlocal agreement between New Hanover and Wilmington.

The exact amounts can be viewed here.

Proposed schedule of New Hanover County's settlement funds.
https://ncopioidsettlement.org/data-dashboards/payment-schedule/
Proposed schedule of New Hanover County's settlement funds.

In the committee’s proposed plan, some of the largest allocations are $1.6 million to help EMS provide medically-assisted therapies like Suboxone, $1.25 million for recovery housing, and another $1.25 million for services like childcare, education, and legal support for those in recovery.

Jennifer Rigby, the county’s chief strategy officer, led the presentation of the proposed funds. She said their number one measure for success is to “drive down the number of overdoses and the number of deaths related to overdoses.”

Commissioner Deb Hays, who now chairs the joint committee, City Councilman Luke Waddell, and Commission Chair Bill Rivenbark are the public officials who have voting power.

Their next meeting will be in February to finalize the funding plan.

After that, the city council and the county commission will approve the funds in March.

Editor's Note: Check back later this week for more details on Tuesday’s committee meeting.  

Rachel is a graduate of UNCW's Master of Public Administration program, specializing in Urban and Regional Policy and Planning. She also received a Master of Education and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and French Language & Literature from NC State University. She served as WHQR's News Fellow from 2017-2019. Contact her by email: rkeith@whqr.org or on Twitter @RachelKWHQR