Q&A
OCME's allocation and spending of opioid settlement funds
1:17:28
ยท
75 sec
Council Member Lynn Schulman inquires about the Office of Chief Medical Examiner's (OCME) allocation and use of opioid settlement funds. Robert Van Pelt, Chief of Staff at OCME, provides details on the allocation and spending of these funds.
- OCME received $4 million for FY25, with $2.8 million for personal services and $1.2 million for other than personal services
- As of December 31, 2024, OCME has spent $1.3 million, including $897,000 on personal services and $402,000 on other expenses
- The funds support 11 positions for the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group (DIG) and 17 positions to improve opioid fatality result turnaround time
Lynn Schulman
1:17:28
Shulman.
1:17:29
Thanks.
1:17:30
Thank you very much.
1:17:31
These questions are for OCMA.
1:17:32
Hi, Robert.
1:17:33
How are you?
1:17:33
Good.
1:17:34
Good.
1:17:35
I know you went over some of this in your testimony.
1:17:38
OCMA receives a portion of settlement dollars to enhance forensic toxicology and overdose investigations.
1:17:44
Can you specify how much has been allocated so far and detail the specific projects or initiatives these funds support?
Robert Van Pelt
1:17:52
Sure.
1:17:53
Thank you for the question, council member.
1:17:55
So, f y 25, there's 4,000,000 in total.
1:17:58
That's 2.2.8000000 in PS and 1.2 in OTPS.
1:18:04
And I could talk about what we've spent so far of that.
Lynn Schulman
1:18:07
Yeah.
1:18:07
That would be great.
1:18:08
Okay.
Robert Van Pelt
1:18:09
FY 25, we have spent, 1,300,000.
1:18:14
That is, 897,000 in PS and 402, 1,000 in OTPS as of December 31, 2024.
1:18:24
So, specifically, head count we have 11 head count for the dig, and then we have, an additional 17 head count in support of the opioid fatality, result turnaround time.
1:18:38
10, 10 of those 17, have been hired and we're working on the the 7 remaining.