Lee County has set aside most of its direct share of the national opioid settlements for one program. The money will keep the county’s Works Program running through 2039, then-County Administrator Robby Wright told the Board of Supervisors in July 2025. The program lets people stay out of jail, do community service and work off fines.
By December, Wright told the board that all of the county’s direct opioid money was earmarked, so other requests have gone to state grants and regional partnerships. The Lee Daily Register traced the money through the board’s minutes, the county budget and the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority’s grant records.
Three pots of money
Wright described the settlement money as three pots, according to the July 15, 2025 minutes. The first is the county’s direct distribution, most of it set aside for the Works Program. The second is grant money through the Opioid Abatement Authority, the state body that awards grants from Virginia’s settlement money. The third is an extra set of grants available to localities that spend all of their money on opioid abatement rather than administration.
The money comes with rules. Programs have to be new or expanded ones, Wright told the board in February 2025. The county works with Sandy O’Dell of the regional planning district on what qualifies, according to the February 18, 2025 minutes.
What the state grant records show
The authority’s list of awards by locality, updated March 18, 2026, shows two Lee County projects funded since 2023:
- An intensive outpatient treatment facility serving youth five days a week: $20,560
- A recovery house in Gate City, in Scott County: $6,357
Together, that is $26,917, by The Lee Daily Register’s count. The same list names 2 cities and 14 counties that had not applied for any authority grant at all. Lee County is not one of them.
Requests the board has backed
Smaller amounts from the direct money have gone to outside groups. The Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society has received $2,500 a year for two years toward a regional partnership grant. In February 2026, the board approved $2,500 more for the 2027 renewal, according to the February 17 minutes. The group’s director told the board its Project Pathfinder had helped more than 1,000 clients affected by addiction with civil legal needs over those two years.
The same night, the board joined other Southwest Virginia localities in a regional application for the Isaiah 117 House project, and appropriated $15,194 in national opioid settlement revenue to its opioid fund.
Other requests have gone to the grant route. In December 2025, the Southwest Virginia Workforce Development Board asked each locality it serves for $25,000 for its R.O.P.E.S. program, which helps people in recovery return to work. Wright said the program was a strong fit for the authority’s funds, but that the county’s direct money was already earmarked. The board voted to let him apply for an indirect funding grant, according to the December 16, 2025 minutes.
What this year’s budget sets aside
The 2026-27 budget expects $100,753 in opioid abatement money, according to the advertised budget in the June 18 minutes. It plans to spend $22,399 and add $78,354 to the fund balance. County Administrator Clint Carter told the board that $78,354 must be earmarked for future opioid abatement projects.
The county has signed on to more settlements, though its shares are small. In August 2025, the board adopted resolutions to take part in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan and the Sackler family settlement, which the resolution put at $6.5 billion nationwide. It also joined settlements with eight other drug makers and with Henry Schein, according to the August 19, 2025 minutes. Discussing the Henry Schein agreements, County Attorney Stacy Munsey said Lee County gets a very small portion, but that the county wants its share however small it is.
