Tumwater City Council approves agreement to pool opioid settlement funds 

The Tumwater City Council authorized Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff to sign an amended contract to pool opioid settlement funds with partner jurisdictions for the purpose of supporting regional opioid prevention projects. 

The action was taken as part of the council's consent agenda at its meeting on Tuesday, March 17, and follows the council's prior commitment to pool 100 percent of the settlement money the city has so far collected and will receive through 2027. 

To date, Tumwater has received $365,805 with additional payouts of $49,979 set for 2026 and $46,049 for 2027, according to documents prepared for the meeting. 

In total, the city is projected to receive about $931,000 due in five annual payments through 2038. There are also two pending payouts with unknown amounts. 

To maximize the funding, Tumwater, together with Thruston County, Olympia and Lacey, are pooling their funds.

The amended contract clarifies the mechanisms for the fund pooling, as well as formalize a process in which the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners must authorize the use of the funds, according to recommendations by the involved parties. 

As part of the agreement, the county will commit $500,000 from their own settlement funds. The cities are free to determine the portion of their payouts they wish to contribute. 

These funds are the result of jurisdictions across the country pursuing legal action against companies involved in the opioid distribution chain.

Tumwater benefits from the lawsuits as a signee of the One Washington Memorandum of Understanding, which allows local governments to share in the funds even if they were not original parties to the litigation.