Council asks for more specifics on city's priorities for opioid settlement money

Urban County Councilmembers reviewed Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton's proposed priorities for millions of dollars in national opioid settlement money during March 24th's Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee.

For their central role in contributing to the national crisis, opioid manufacturers and distributors are paying billions of dollars to state and local governments to resolve ongoing lawsuits across the country. After joining more than 30,000 municipal plaintiffs in a lawsuit in 2017, Lexington has received its first payment of almost $9 million. It expects approximately $30 million over 18 years.

The money must be spent on efforts to address the opioid crisis, such as opioid detox and recovery services, drug take-back programs, job training and related programs. So the city needs a game plan.

How should Lexington support people facing opioid use disorder?

During Tuesday's committee meeting, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton shared her priorities for roughly $30 million in national opioid settlement money the city expects to receive over 18 years. The priorities began with an Opioid Abatement Commission the Mayor convened in 2023.

That group met monthly for two years to study the issue, completed a Recovery Ready Communities Assessment for state certification, and spent several months developing recommendations for use of the money, according to the Mayor's presentation.

Those recommendations were then given to Gorton, who "carefully reviewed and prioritized recommendations based on available funding and long-term sustainability," a presentation slide stated.

According to presentation materials, the city is considering funding priorities along these lines:

1. Create an interest-bearing account, allowing the money the city has on hand to grow over time while waiting for the rest. The interest can be reinvested into prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts.
2. Fund housing and treatment services. The money can be used for temporary and permanent supportive housing that includes wrap-around services for those in recovery.
3. Support services for LFUCG Community Corrections, which operates the Fayette County Detention Center. Money would go toward supporting treatment services, counseling, and re-entry to reduce recidivism and overdoses among incarcerated people.
4. Start a community grant program for local non-profits. They would be offered in a tiered structure for annual micro grants and biennial macro grant offerings.
5. Contribute to Lexington's harm reduction efforts. One example is ongoing support for mobile distribution of naloxone, a life-saving medication that rapidly reverses overdoses.
6. Host an opioid response and recovery conference. The event would bring together people with lived experience, community partners and addiction/behavioral health professionals with the shared goal of improving Lexington's response to the problem.

Council seeks clear plan, faster rollout of opioid settlement money

While Councilmembers were generally supportive of those spending goals, many pressed for more specifics during the meeting.

Councilmembers raised concerns about spending delays, questioned how much say the public had in crafting the recommendations and sought more Council oversight over the money.

Responding to the top priority that the city place the opioid settlement money it currently has in an interest-bearing account, Vice Mayor Dan Wu asked where it was being kept since the first payment was received in 2022.

Lexington Commissioner of Social Services Kacy Allen-Bryant clarified the city has been holding the $9 million in an interest-bearing account. It wants to move the money into more of an endowment-style account with the goal of using the interest to pay for long-term opioid response efforts.

Wu also asked about the timeline for spending the money, given the urgency of the opioid crisis.

"What is the timing or the timeline? Because we've gotten this question from some of our nonprofit partners of like 'Where is this money? How come it's not being spent yet?'" Wu said.

"We're going to work on the details immediately," Allen-Bryant responded, adding the money would be distributed in accordance with the proposed spending priorities.

Asked by Wu if the money will be distributed this year, Allen-Bryant said: "That would be my hope."

Councilmembers also questioned whether the city wants to use the money more like an endowment or a spendable fund and in what amounts.

Allen-Bryant said those types of specifics haven't been hashed out yet. Because the money comes from lawsuits, settlements and bankruptcy proceedings that can play out indefinitely, it's difficult for the city to anticipate when the money will arrive and in what amounts. The city's priority is to ensure the sustainability of the money in the long-term, Allen-Bryant said.

"We don't want to bankrupt our account. So we may be very conservative in our first round of grant submissions," Allen-Bryant said.

At the same time, "We don't want to sit here and save it all. I don't either," Gorton told the Council. There are priorities that could be funded before the grant process rolls out, Gorton added.

"We know there are folks in the community who can use this," Gorton said.

The Mayor's presentation did not include specific spending amounts or targets, something a few Councilmembers wanted more specifics about.

"My preference would be for you all to come back to us when you have kind of settled on some dollar amounts," 9th District Councilmember Whitney Elliott Baxter said.

Gorton offered to return to the Council with a "fleshed out idea" of how much money the city would set aside in an endowment and how much would be available for grants and community initiatives to address the opioid crisis.

"It's a little nebulous, but we wanted to get these (priorities) to you right away," Gorton said. "We would be happy to come back with some kind of more specific ideas."

"For me, I'd like to see these funds being invested into our people directly through innovative solutions," 1st District Councilmember Tyler Morton said, referencing youth programming for opioid prevention, crisis response models, and recovery support, among other services.

"When we're looking at those grants, I hope that we do a focus on some of our grassroots and neighborhood-focused organizations that are directly on the ground," Morton added. "I know that sometimes they just can't access some of those grants."

At-Large Councilmember Chuck Ellinger asked about the process going forward, including the opportunity for public input. While the Opioid Abatement Commission previously held town halls and opened its meetings to the public, relatively few people participated.

"I was contacted by some constituents that wanted to make some comments, but they can't make comments during the committee meeting," Ellinger said.

Going forward, At-Large Councilmember James Brown, who chairs the group's Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, advocated for bringing a follow-up report back to the full Council for review in the coming months.

"Hopefully the plan that you bring to us invests most of the money back into the community now, but then also plans, as some sort of formula, to save towards that endowment. I think that piece is important as well," Brown said.