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Coconino supervisors approve up to $500,000 from Stability Fund to keep WIC benefits flowing during federal funding lapse
Summary
Board unanimously approved emergency budget adjustments and an agreement with the Arizona Department of Health Services to maintain Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food benefits and local WIC staff pay through early January amid a federal funding gap caused by the federal government shutdown.
Coconino County supervisors voted unanimously Oct. 14 to use contingency money to keep federally administered WIC food benefits and local WIC staff funded while federal appropriations are disrupted.
The board approved a budget transfer of up to $400,000 from the county's Stability Fund to the Arizona Department of Health Services to sustain WIC food benefits for infants and non-infants for November and December 2025. Separately the board approved up to $100,000 to cover WIC staff wages and benefits from Nov. 15, 2025, through Jan. 2, 2026, and authorized an agreement that will let the county transmit the money to ADHS.
The action follows presentations from Michelle Axland, director of Coconino County Health and Human Services, who told supervisors the state can fund WIC staffing only through Nov. 15 and will run out of federal food funds for November 1 unless local governments act. "This program has existed for over 50 years," Axland said, describing WIC as a…
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