CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- There is anger over the Lightfoot Administration's use of millions in pandemic relief dollars to cover police department expenses.
Activists and some aldermen said this was a poor decision.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Lightfoot Administration spent $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money on CPD personnel costs.
The number came to light as Lightfoot seeks City Council approval to transfer about $65 million in unspent federal COVID-19 money into the 2021 budget, after the Biden administration waived FEMA local funding matches and extended the deadline to spend federal dollars until the end of the year.
Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st Ward, said he called on the mayor last summer to put federal money toward housing relief or other programs to help struggling residents.
“We asked for assurances they wouldn’t spend it all on police,” La Spata told the Tribune. “That’s the last thing people wanted, to infuse hundreds of millions more dollars into the Police Department right now.”
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Activists said they plan to speak out about the huge amount of money going to police compared to what went to public health and other programs.
The city received about $1.2 billion from the federal government to help fill the COVID-19 budget holes.