Macon County commissioners adopted a policy Sept. 28 for handing out the county’s opioid settlement money, after the county reported spending $3,400 of the roughly $83,500 it received from 2023 through 2025.
The resolution sets a policy and procedure for administering and spending the settlement funds, according to the commission’s Sept. 28 minutes. District 1 Commissioner Matt Shoemaker moved to adopt it, District 2 Commissioner Jeff McLin seconded, and the motion carried 3-0. Applications are available at the Commission Office, the minutes say.
A month earlier, at the Aug. 24 meeting, Treasurer Krista Bruno discussed using an application for access to the opioid funds and said the county needed better documentation on how the money is being spent and on whom, according to the minutes.
Macon County received $20,704.78 in 2023, $38,726.47 in 2024, and $24,075.03 in 2025, according to annual reports the county filed with the Missouri Department of Mental Health, which tracks local settlement spending. The county reported no spending in 2023 or 2024.
In 2025, the county reported one expense: $3,400 to J. Chad Professional Training LLC for substance abuse training for school officials, teachers, and law enforcement officers, according to the state report.
The State Auditor’s financial statements for Macon County show the same pattern. The county’s opioid settlement fund started 2024 with $21,017, took in $39,740, including $1,014 in interest, and ended the year with $60,757. The county had budgeted $35,000 in spending from the fund that year and spent none of it, according to the statements.
The county has also approved spending this year. On Aug. 6, commissioners approved reimbursing the drug court division of the circuit court for stays at the Fresh Start sober living house in Macon using opioid settlement funds, according to the minutes. The minutes do not list an amount, and 2026 spending reports are not due to the state until next year; the department posts each year’s reports the following March.
Settlement money comes from national agreements with opioid distributors, manufacturers, and pharmacy chains, including Janssen, Teva, Allergan, CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, and Walmart, according to the department.
Neighboring counties have taken different approaches, according to their 2025 reports to the state:
Randolph County, which received $61,852.80 in 2025, reported spending $108,889, including peer support and jail navigation services, recovery housing help for 16 people, and 911 dispatch software for Moberly.
Shelby County, which received $19,072.82, reported spending $35,739.73, most of it on a D.A.R.E. vehicle and training for schools and law enforcement. Shelby County also paid J. Chad Professional for a training seminar for school professionals.
Chariton County received $16,727.78 and spent $4,240.12 on two automated external defibrillators from the county ambulance district. Linn County received $5,342.02 and spent $5,323.46 on D.A.R.E. shirts and a mascot costume.
Adair County, which received $48,158.73, and Knox County, which received $10,182.96, reported no spending in 2025. Monroe County does not appear on the state’s list of counties receiving settlement payments in 2025.
Counties can spend more in a year than they receive by drawing on money carried over from earlier payments.
The Department of Mental Health’s expenditure reports are public at moopioidsettlements.dmh.mo.gov/PublicReports.