BernCo officials urge mayor to back opioid funding plan

Bernalillo County commissioners called on Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller to approve a multimillion-dollar plan meant to alleviate the effects of the opioid epidemic after signaling support for their own version Tuesday evening.

The county’s plan, nearly identical to the one approved by the Albuquerque City Council on Monday, assigns millions of dollars to several efforts, including a grant program for capital improvements to support nonprofits and an Albuquerque Public Schools program that seeks to intervene and prevent drug use among students.

“I do want to emphasize that while the City Council has approved this, it still requires the mayor’s signature,” Commissioner Eric Olivas said. “And that is something that we all need to be speaking to our mayor and speaking to our city administration and emphasizing how important this is to move this forward.”

Keller’s administration called for the money to be used for operating costs for programs and efforts already underway, including those at the Gateway Centers. But the City Council, in an 8-1 vote, decided to assign the money differently.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Keller said the mayor was considering his options on whether to sign the council’s plan.

According to the City Council and county’s plan, the money will be used in three ways: $2 million for grants for small providers to improve services; $10 million for capital improvements to nonprofits; and about $5 million over three years for APS’ Crossroads program.

“We want to be able to look back on this in five years, in 10 years, and really be able to point to the impact that this had,” Olivas said.

The joint spending efforts rely on money from a historic settlement between U.S. municipalities and pharmaceutical companies that overprescribed opioids and misled Americans about the side effects.

Federal data shows that New Mexico consistently has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the country, most of which stem from opioid use.

“These (dollars) are off of the backs of those folks,” Commissioner Adriann Barboa said.

In 2018, the city and county agreed to work together to decide what to do with $150 million — $80 million for the city and $70 million for the county — from the settlement. Both governments have received some of that money, and the rest will be dispersed over the next two decades.

Tuesday’s 5-0 vote is the first of two required to approve the plan, under county rules.

“I think we did a good job,” Barboa said. “Nothing’s ever perfect, and nothing’s going to completely solve the problem, but we can make it work, especially if we continue to work.”