County to Distribute Opioid Settlement Funds

November 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb and other county governments across the state will now be able to help their communities in the ongoing opioid crisis that has affected them in recent years with funds awarded the state from lawsuit settlements.

DeKalb County has received $119,163 in restricted funds and $99,470 in unrestricted money from a trust fund set up by the state for a total of $225,647.

All 95 Tennessee counties have received a share of more than $31.4 million in payments from the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, which began processing the direct payments from the Opioid Abatement Trust Fund to county governments earlier this year.

County Mayor Matt Adcock, during Tuesday’s committee meeting of the whole, informed the county commission that funds from DeKalb County’s allotment of money can be made available to eligible agencies in DeKalb County who have requested funding. During Monday night’s monthly meeting, the county commission will consider allocating a portion of $146,701 to the agencies who have made requests.

“Agencies in DeKalb County were asked to submit a request for how much funding from the county’s opioid settlement funding they wished to receive to support their programs,” said County Mayor Adcock. “All of these agencies have expressed what they would like to use the funds for and how much is needed to successfully bring to fruition or continuation of their programs. DeKalb County has received $119,163 of restricted opioid settlement funds that must meet the criteria of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council’s remediation list. Unrestricted funds of the opioid abatement settlement funding totals to an amount of $99,470. The total amount of restricted and unrestricted funding is $218,634”, said Adcock.

The agencies making funding requests and the amounts are as follows:
Sheriff’s Department’s DARE Program: $10,000
Youth and Family Resources Network (Spot Program) $22,440
DeKalb Prevention Coalition $54,261
Recovery Court $60,000
Total: $146,701

County leaders are able to select activities for these funds from a list approved by the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council. Approved uses include a continuation of opioid use disorder treatment programs, medication assisted treatment, recovery supports, and prevention measures.

Tennessee’s Opioid Abatement Council was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in Public Chapter 491 to manage the disbursement of proceeds from lawsuits relating to opioids. The Council upholds the responsibility to ensure the disbursements of these funds go toward funding programs, strategies, expenditures, and other actions designed to prevent and address the misuse and abuse of opioid products and treat or mitigate opioid use or related disorders or other effects of the opioid epidemic.

November 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A large group of caring people from the community gave up part of their Thanksgiving Day to see that hundreds of their needy friends and neighbors had a hot delicious meal on this special holiday.

In what has become an annual tradition on Thanksgiving, the DeKalb Emergency Services Association (DESA) and volunteers gathered together early Thursday morning at the kitchen of the county complex to do some cooking for others in the community who might not otherwise have had a hot delicious meal for Thanksgiving.

This year’s meal consisted of turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, and a homemade dessert.

According to DESA spokesperson Blake Cantrell, more than 750 meals were served Thursday morning at stops throughout DeKalb County.

“This is definitely the biggest Thanksgiving meal delivery effort we have ever done,” said Cantrell. “We have been overwhelmed with everyone’s generosity and support. In addition to the volunteers who helped cook, prepare the food trays, and make deliveries we had many people who made donations including lots of homemade dressings and desserts. We had extra food that we were able to distribute this year. Some boxed unperishables. Liberty Star Arms was especially helpful. They did a raffle and donated all the proceeds from that to this meal,” said Cantrell.

DESA will be conducting another meal delivery on Saturday, December 23 in time for Christmas and all those who received meals on Thanksgiving will be on the list for that event”.

To get your name on the delivery list for December 23 call 615-390-0297 or 615-712-4286 or visit www.dekalbesa.com/meal.

November 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County’s local option sales tax collections for October were down from September but up from October, 2022.

According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue, DeKalb County collected $176,794 in October, down from $192,082 in September but up from $156,092 in October, 2022.

Local option sales tax collections in October were also down in two of the four towns in DeKalb County, Smithville and Liberty, but up in Alexandria and Dowelltown compared to October, 2022.

In Smithville, October collections were $320,369, down from $334,428 in September and below $365,386 in October 2022.

Alexandria’s collections dropped slightly from $28,894 in September to $28,779 in October but were up from $25,383 in October, 2022.

Dowelltown’s collections were at $3,140 in October, up slightly from $3,001 in September and above collections of $2,884 in October, 2022.

Liberty’s went from $9,906 in September to $11,463 in October but were below the October 2022 collections of $16,705.

Net collections of local option sales taxes for the county and cities combined in October were $540,546, down from $568,313 in September, and below October, 2022 collections of $566,452.

October sales tax collections reflect previous month activity.