Millions of dollars are coming to the Albuquerque area from opioid settlements and officials want public input on how to spend them.
The first in a series of meeting kicks off Tuesday night hosted by Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque.
The county and the city are working together along with outside consultants and evaluators to create a strategic plan for their share of opioid settlement funds.
But Gilbert Ramirez, director of Health, Housing and Homelessness for the city,said that plan wouldn’t be complete without input from the people who are most affected by the opioid crisis.
“We can do all of the gap analysis we want,” he said, “but it's not going to give us the narrative of what people are actually experiencing when they're in crisis and they need to access services.”
They will host five meetings for the community to come give input in person. As part of their outreach, they also have an email and a survey where people can weigh in.
The funds come from settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors that shield them from lawsuits, but force them to pay out billions of dollars to state and local governments around the country.
The recent Supreme Court decision on Purdue Pharma will not affect these funds.
Bernalillo County has received $23.1 million, and the city has received $27.6 million so far.
Combined, they’ll be receiving a total of more than $135 million through annual payments until 2039. Of that, $65 million will go to the county and $72 million to the city.
After that, the funds will dry up. Ramirez said that means officials must carefully craft how the money is spent to have the most impact possible.
“It's very important for us to have a mindset of sustainability,” he said.
Following the public meetings, there will be a report by October with recommendations on the best ways to spend the funds.
The meeting is from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Valley Multipurpose Senior Center at 2008 Larrazolo Rd SW.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg foundation.
