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- Recipients of Opioid Settlement Funds in Mississippi are now allowed to seek monthly reimbursements instead of quarterly. Awards for this fiscal year totaled nearly $60 million.
Monthly reimbursements is now an option for recipients of Opioid Settlement Funds in Mississippi, and the next round of applications will open later this month.
The Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council made the decision last month to allow agencies and organizations receiving Opioid Settlement Funds to opt for monthly or quarterly reimbursements, said Michelle Williams, Chief of Staff for Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) said.
The Attorney General’s Office serves as the chair of the Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council.
When given that option, Williams said about 12 recipients of the funds opted for monthly reimbursements.
“So, last week the council agreed that anybody who had requested a monthly reimbursement can get a monthly reimbursement now,” Williams said.
Reporting requirements will follow the same intervals as prior reimbursements.
“If you’ve got monthly reimbursements, you’ll do monthly reporting. If you’ve got quarterly reimbursements, you’ll do quarterly reporting,” Williams added.
The change is expected to increase the workload for the third-party administrator the Legislature required to be involved in the application process and manage the reporting. Williams said the increase in the contract to the Steadman Group will not require a request for additional funding above the $400,000 the Legislature appropriated for the service due to the fact that their initial contract was below that amount prior to the reporting changes.
“And we are amending the contract so that now they will be able to help us with the additional reporting,” Williams explained. “We haven’t gotten over the $400,000 contract amount that we were appropriated so we don’t have to go back to the Legislature for any additional funds. We’re at $400,000.”
During last week’s meeting, the advisory council also set a date to begin accepting applications for the next fiscal year. All current recipients must reapply for funding for fiscal year 2028.
“Basically, they only have the funds until the end of the fiscal year in June 2027. Projects that they would like to continue past that date, they will have to reapply for,” Williams said.
The application website will go live on August 24, with acceptance of applications starting a week later.
“The application period won’t start for another week until the 31st and what we’re doing with that is we’re basically putting it out there,” Williams elaborated.
The week-long lead is intended to give applicants time to read through the application and pose technical questions they may have to the Steadman Group for clarification or additional information during office hours. Applicants will then have six weeks, from August 31 until October 5, to submit their requests before the window closes.
Also during last week’s meeting, the advisory council amended the scoring rubric that was used last year to rank the applications. The council did so with input from the Steadman Group. Williams described the changes approved by the council as minor.
Applications will be reviewed as part of the revised scoring rubric. They will then be submitted to the Legislature for final approval. The Legislature also has the ability to add projects to the recommended list and change award amounts as it sees fit.
“The Legislature takes our recommendations, and they determine which ones they want to fund,” Williams said. “In the end, it’s a legislative determination.”
The awards for fiscal year 2027 totaled $60.6 million, but with a veto issued by Governor Tate Reeves (R) for three projects totaling $1.5 million, the total issued for this fiscal year dropped to $59.1 million.
Williams said the balance in the fund for Mississippi was $111.4 million as of June 16, which includes $98.5 million in abatement funding and $12.9 million in non-abatement funding.
Jeremy Pittari
