Mayor Tom Watson estimates Owensboro will receive around $180,000 in Opioid Settlement funds from the Attorney General’s office, which he described as lower than expected.
Watson said he previously talked to Attorney General Daniel Cameron and was informed the state’s payments would be rolled out in increments once a year for 10 years, according to one report he received.
“It doesn’t seem to be that there’s going to be a big lump sum of cash just all of a sudden land in our lap,” Watson said.
The Commonwealth’s total share of funds is around $478 million which will be distributed throughout the state. This is following protocol outlined in House Bill 427.
County Commissioner Janie Marksberry reported there is no deadline as to when the funds from the first round of funding will be as long as it’s allocated anytime during FY2023-2024.
Marksberry said she did not know at the time how much the County would receive, however, Watson estimates it’d be more than $200,000.
One way the Owensboro-Daviess County Steering Committee has discussed using the funds is by hiring a consultant to help create a master plan and subsequent other plans to help the Committee down a successful path.
Dr. Wanda Figueroa Peralta said they have been in conversations with different organizations in the community that aim at drug rehabilitation and recovery. In doing so she reported there are five priorities the Committee needs to begin on.
She recommended they work on a hiring a consultant to make a strategic plan, develop service mapping, increase knowledge of regulations and policies, have a community “point person” that will guide all efforts and invest in sustainable efforts along with improve social determinants of health.
“Using settlement funds to invest in some of those efforts could be something innovative that can bring additional dollars,” Figueroa Peralta said. “Let’s say that some funding is available for 10-15 years. If you develop some innovative funding, and we’re able to match that with other federal grants or other state grants, then we multiply our effort and we multiply the impact.”
Another major factor of this is ensuring the Committee can combat the stigma of drug abuse and addiction. Deputy Chief of Owensboro Police Department JD Winkler urges the Committee to help with this.
Winkler said the public would need to understand the severity of the issue and support the causes and effort otherwise the work the Committee puts in would die as he said.
“If the majority of our citizens don’t support what the mission is or what we’re trying to work toward, it’s going to die. We’re not going to get anywhere,” Winkler said. “By that I mean we have to change people’s perception of what addiction is. [Oftentimes,] until it touches you, it doesn’t matter to a lot of people. That’s just human nature.”
