Two Manitowoc County Judges are concerned with what’s being proposed in the county’s 2027 budget.
Judge Mark Rohrer told the county board Monday that he’s confused about why County Executive Tyler Martell wants to create an Opioid Settlement Task Force to collect opioid funds.
He said judges and other citizens oppose the task force and believe Human Services should continue using the funds.
“These people are trained professionals and clearly have an understanding of treating those who are in the throes of addiction,” he explained. “Furthermore, there’s been a great deal of success that includes having addicts become successful, hardworking, taxpaying citizens. Reuniting children with their parents.”
Rohrer also stated that money has been saved by spending less to put drug users in prison, finding foster homes for children, and having fewer people receiving financial assistance.
The 1st District Circuit Court judge then predicted that without the funds, it would cause more problems for the county.
Rohrer stated, “Higher rates of addiction, overdoses, deaths, higher costs in caring for children of addicts, and higher insurance rates for citizens and businesses due to the increases in theft and burglaries.”
Rohrer added that when the money is spent through the County’s Human Services Department, the county board oversees opioid fund spending.
The judge finished commenting on a statement made that the county “doesn’t want to rely on Opioid Settlement Money.”
He says the county received the funds because of bad behavior from pharmaceutical companies.
“The county is not dependent on these funds, but rather entitled to these funds to address the opioid crisis, created in part by the pharmaceutical companies,” he remarked.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Dewane also told the county board that morale is “low” among the county employees he’s talked to.
He also criticized the county for eliminating eleven vacant positions from Human Services.
During his county budget presentation, County Executive Martell called for the creation of the human services stabilization fund to help absorb major expenses.
He also said the county was relying too much on opioid settlement funding to fill gaps in previous budgets, which is why he wanted to create the task force.
Manitowoc County’s Board of Supervisors could adopt the budget on November 5th as part of a special meeting.
