KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Under pressure to spend money from the opioid settlement to start saving lives, the Kalamazoo County board is looking for a quick way to get some money into the fight.
They have set up a task force to advise them on the wisest ways to spend the millions they have coming from the national opioid settlement, but that’s going to take time.
Task force member Dominic Gladstone says it’s important they get it right.
But board chair Tami Rae says there are immediate needs that should be funded soon.
Vice chair John Taylor proposed distributing $250,000 through the United Way or some other third party non-profit, to support agencies that need the help now.
The county administration has been tasked with figuring out how that can be done.
There is currently $4.6 million in the county’s opioid fund, which could grow to four times that size over the next 16 years.
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