Coconino supervisors approve up to $500,000 from stability fund to keep WIC services running during federal shutdown

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Friday to use county Stability Fund dollars to maintain local WIC (Women, Infants and Children) food benefits and payroll while federal funds are paused during the federal government shutdown.

The board approved three related emergency actions: up to $400,000 to ADHS to maintain WIC benefits for November and December (item 8b); up to $100,000 to the county—s Health and Human Services district to keep seven WIC staff on payroll from Nov. 15 through Jan. 2 (item 8c); and an agreement authorizing the chair to sign a final contract with the Arizona Department of Health Services for the transfers (item 8d). The board voted unanimously on each motion.

The WIC food assistance program, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered in Arizona by ADHS, provides nutrition benefits and education to pregnant people, infants and children up to age 4. Michelle Axland, director of Coconino County Health and Human Services, told the board the state will run out of food benefits funding at the end of October and could only staff WIC through Nov. 15 without county help. Axland said the county currently serves just under 1,900 families in WIC and…