Citing the changing needs of incoming migrants to Chicago, the Cook County Board of Commissioners Thursday approved a transfer of $70 million originally dedicated to providing them health care to instead cover costs of food service for new arrivals. [Chicago Tribune]

The funding represents the majority of the $100 million Board President Toni Preckwinkle dedicated in her $9.6 billion 2024 budget to the county’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund. The remaining $30 million was allocated toward “municipal or local government costs” related to incoming migrants and “other disasters that may happen in 2024.”

Cook County legal counsel Laura Lechowicz Felicione said last year’s migrant health care expenses, which totaled $25 million, were covered by surplus dollars and “various expense lines, mostly in salaries and wages.”

“We expect that we’ll be able to cover that expense again this year” using the surplus, she said. That frees up the $70 million to reimburse the city of Chicago for costs related to feeding asylum-seekers in intake or shelters. The resolution leaves room for the money to also be used to support other “costs related to funding operations for the new arrivals.”

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