La Grande Council Allocates Opioid Settlement Funds to Union County Coalition

The La Grande City Council voted March 4, 2026 to allocate a portion of the city’s opioid settlement funds to the Union County Safe Communities Coalition, a move recorded in the council’s resolution language that included the truncated phrase "Tiered Allocatio," Elkhorn Media reported March 6, 2026. The action directs a city-level share of opioid settlement resources toward the county coalition but the council packet does not appear in the provided excerpts to include a dollar amount or the full tiered-allocation text.

Local fiscal records for FY 2022–2023 show the scale of settlement receipts available to jurisdictions in the region: La Grande received $102,334.60 and disbursed $0 in that fiscal year; Union County received $131,842.57 and disbursed $0. By contrast, Wasco County received $155,114.96 and made a FY22–23 disbursement of $4,250 to Light House Technology under an "Other Strategies" category. Those FY22–23 figures predate the March 2026 council decision and do not indicate which year’s receipts the March 2026 allocation will draw from.

At the state level, Oregon deposits the state portion of opioid settlement funds into the Opioid Settlement, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Fund established by ORS 430.223, and the fund is controlled by an 18-member Opioid Settlement Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Board created under 2022 House Bill 4098, with Oregon Health Authority providing staff support. According to a summary of the OSPTR board’s 2023–2024 Annual Report, the board allocated approximately $74 million from the state’s portion and set aside $27.7 million, equal to 30 percent, for nine federally recognized Tribes; the board’s allocation formula directs 45 percent to the state and 55 percent to participating subdivisions, and the board planned allocations across eight categories through June 2025.

The county coalition allocation sits alongside local initiatives described in state excerpts, including a proposed Municipal Court Mentor Program that would marshal settlement monies from multiple jurisdictions to fund an employee of a local mental health provider to serve people affected by drug use and identified by the court. That program is described as expected to roll out in the next few months, with Hermiston and Pendleton named in the same program context in the excerpts.

Key details remain unreported in the material provided: the specific dollar amount La Grande committed to the Union County Safe Communities Coalition, the full text of the council’s "Tiered Allocation" resolution, and whether the March 2026 allocation will be drawn from FY22–23 receipts, later receipts, or future deposits. City council records and the council packet for the March 4, 2026 meeting would provide the resolution text and any fiscal notes that clarify how La Grande plans to transfer and track the funds.