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County to get more opioid settlement funds

OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon Pictured are members of the Chautauqua County Legislature.

MAYVILLE — Chautauqua County is once again in line to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars through an opioid settlement.

On Wednesday, the Chautauqua County Legislature approved a New York Statewide Opioid Settlement Agreement with Teva for $957,804. The county will receive the funds over a 13-year period.

According to the resolution, on July 26, 2022, Teva, and its subsidiary drug distributor Anda Inc., announced a $4.35 billion global opioid settlement agreement. Then on Nov. 3, a proposed agreement was reached wherein Teva will be required to pay as much as $550 million to the State of New York, depending on the level of participation statewide.

County attorney Patrick Slagle said there is a Feb. 1 deadline for the county to either accept or reject the proposed settlement amount.

“By not joining the settlement, you would be looking at going into litigation, paying for experts, discovery and you may not get anything, so it is the recommendation of the County Law Department that you authorize the county executive and the county attorney to enter into this,” he said.

The legislature unanimously approved the agreement.

Slagle said a certain percentage of the settlement funds must be used for things like opioid treatments, education and training. “There will be some that will be unrestricted and can be used for a variety of other purposes,” he added.

This isn’t the first opioid settlement for the county. Finance Director Kitty Crow said previously that Chautauqua County is scheduled to receive payments through 2038, totaling $5,952,734. In 2022, the county received $1,664,896 and in 2023, is scheduled to receive $274,952.

However, in this year’s budget the county budgeted $1 million for a new Medically Assisted Treatment program at the county jail that was mandated by the state. Because the treatment program is so new, officials have been hesitant to use any opioid settlement funds for anything else.

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