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Date: 10/26/2023
LUDLOW — Members of the Ludlow CARES Coalition met with the Board of Selectmen at its Oct. 17 meeting to discuss the recently approved opioid stabilization fund and how the money will be distributed.
Article 6 was recently approved at the October Town Meeting and now the town can look to create a special purpose stabilization fund.
Like other municipalities, Ludlow expects to receive annual funds as part of a settlement agreement.
The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General and many other Attorneys General have settled lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for their role in contributing to the epidemic caused by the opioid crisis in the state.
Gov. Maura Healey said the first two settlement payments would reach Massachusetts in spring and summer 2022 followed by yearly installments from 2023 to 2038.
Each municipality are set to receive different amounts of funding, according to projections by Healey’s office.
The settlements are being paid to the 13 state governments that brought the lawsuit.
Gov. Healey, who was the state’s attorney general at the time, announced last year that she would direct 40% of Massachusetts’ share of the settlement to be split among the 351 cities and towns.
The remaining 60% will be spent at the state level, on anti-addiction and anti-overdose programs.
For the last couple of years, Ludlow has been receiving the funds, which leaves the account balance at approximately $157,000.
Ludlow CARES President Laura Rooney said that she thinks the organization should receive $30,000 of the annual funds each year since her organization focuses on opioid prevention.
She said, “CARES has continued to fundraise and take money from individuals and businesses to continue our work. While we just finished another round of fundraising and successfully raised $20,000 for the work that we want to do next year, we feel conflicted about continuing those asks knowing that the town has received such a substantial amount of money to do basically the work that we do.”
One of the focuses of Ludlow CARES is to help educate the youth in town about drugs and alcohol.
Rooney explained that the organization has been working on the opioid epidemic for a while.
She said, “CARES has been on the prevention side of the opioid epidemic as well as other things that put at youth at risk. Back in 2011, 2012 when no one was talking about the opioid epidemic that was happening across the country, a bunch of people stepped forward and sounded the alarm at their own risk and education and prevention began on the CARES side.”
There is currently no distribution process in place since the opioid stabilization account was just approved but each member of the Board of Selectmen agreed that Ludlow CARES should receive a portion of the funds each year.
The board also said that the money can also be distributed to other organizations who may need it like the Police Department, Board of Health or Senior Center.
In discussing a decision-making process for distributing the funds, the Board of Selectmen agreed that a committee was not needed.
Selectman Many Silva said, “There is no need for one. We have half a dozen organizations that we’re going to distribute the funds to. Why are we going to have a committee decide.”
Selectman Derek DeBarge added, “As everyone knows bureaucracy has to get into the game so what we have to do is we have to have some sort of approval system to send to Town Meeting and then Town Meeting will approve that. We have Town Meeting twice a year and this is the part of the government that I can’t stand because it is too slow.”
Rooney acknowledged that it is aright if a way to distribute the funds is not solved until next year since CARES just finished their donation cycle, but she just wanted to let the Board of Selectmen her ask for when the funds are distributed.
Town Administrator Marc Strange said he will reach out to other town departments to allow them to discuss how or if they also want to receive a portion of the opioid stabilization funds.
Selectman Bill Rosenblum said the way the funds are distributed can run the same way the budget process is done each year.
He said, “I think it’s basically the process of the budget process, go to the departments and vet them just like we do with the budget. We find out what’s their ask, we vet them and that’s it.”