Opioid Settlement

In other business, Raborn announced that the City stands to receive about $9,623 from the Texas Opioid Litigation Settlement.

The money comes as part of a $26 billion multistate lawsuit against the country’s three major drug distributors – McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen – as well as drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.

Texas’ share of that money stands at about $1.5 billion. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office will receive 15 percent off the top for handling the litigation. Seventy percent of the $1.5 billion will go to the newly-created Texas Opioid Abatement Fund, and the remaining 15 percent will go to political subdivisions of the state including counties and cities.

“I don’t know yet how we’re going to get the money,” Raborn said. “There may be some up-front money, but I believe they have a number of years to pay it back.”

“The numbers are all over the board,” Raborn said. “Cities that are larger than us, they’re getting smaller amounts, and cities smaller than us are getting larger amounts.”

Raborn said the City could use the funds for programs aimed at addressing the opioid epidemic, such as the City’s prescription drug take-back program, training for officers, educational programs for the public or even a drug dog.

Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the City to participate in the settlement.

Also at Monday’s meeting, Council met in executive session Monday to discuss and possibly consider “the sale and/ or conveyance of City owned real property,” as stated in the agenda.

“Someone inquired about a piece of property, and I presented it to the Council,” Raborn said. Raborn said he could not

Raborn said he could not discuss the proceedings during the closed-door meeting. Likewise, he declined to name the piece of property in question. Council took no action on the item. Council does not appear to be interested in the sale, because Raborn said he did not think the matter would come back up for discussion.