Date: Fri 02-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

day-care-Adventure-Center

Full Text:

State Funding Cuts Threaten Children's Adventure Center

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The Children's Adventure Center, a day care center subsidized by the town and

the state, has been left reeling by an anticipated $45,000 cut in state aid

and has asked the Board of Selectmen to make up the difference.

"I'm concerned about not being able to keep my doors open," said Marjorie

Maxwell, the day care center's director, at a budget workshop held by the

Board of Selectmen to work on the town's proposed budget for 1996-97.

The Children's Adventure Center is a public, nonprofit corporation which

provides day care for children ages 3-6 and before- and after-school programs

for children up to the age of 10. It is located in the town's multi-purpose

building at 14 Riverside Road, a building that also houses the town's senior

center.

The town contributes $20,000 a year to the day care center and also pays for

half of the utilities (electric, fuel oil and garbage pickup). The day care

center pays the town $7,350 a year in rent under a 20-year lease, which

expires this year.

The problem began last fall when the state changed its grants formula from a

fiscal year to a calendar year. On September 31, the Children's Adventure

Center signed a 15-month contract with the state, and Newtown agreed to

continue its funding through December 1996.

Several weeks ago the state announced grant cutbacks. The funding the town and

the day care center need both for the center's current 1995-96 budget, which

runs through June 30, and for the July-December period of the town's 1996-97

budget were lost.

To fund the day care center, the town now must come up with $37,500 for the

rest of the 1995-96 fiscal year and an equal amount for the first six months

of the 1996-97 budget. The center asked for $65,000 in next year's budget to

cover the entire school year.

Ms Maxwell and other members of the center's board of directors attended town

budget workshops on Monday and Wednesday evenings this week to talk about the

funding shortfall.

"We were an excellent purpose and are part of the quality of life of Newtown,"

said board member Mae Schmidle. "Half of the day care centers in the state are

already in deficit funding because of the state's action. I think the state

will change its mind - I'd say be hopeful."

The selectmen weren't as confident, pointing to the pattern of shifting costs

from the federal government to the state and from the state to local

government.

Mr Cascella pointed out that the $65,000 the day care director requested in

next year's budget would amount to a subsidy of $2,166 per child, "a

substantial amount for a small town like Newtown."

But the true cost is even greater, he said.

"If you add in the cost of health insurance, life insurance, long-term

disability, pension, plus the town's 50-50 share of utilities, it adds another

$66,840 in annual in-kind costs, when added to the first $65,000, amounts to a

subsidy of $4,200 per child," Mr Cascella said.

"I'm not saying this program isn't needed, but is there a more cost-effective

way to provide this service?" he asked. "Does local government subsidize day

care to the tune of $4,200 per child?"

Selectman Jim Mooney recalled that when the center was created 20 years ago,

day care was a new concept. There was a lot of state aid so the town was only

required to put up the building and maintain it. Now the cost is shifting from

the federal and state level to the local level, he said.

"In (recent) years, private providers have entered the field. Has the time for

the town to be involved in this passed? Is it time for the town to get out of

this business?" he asked.

Last year the Children's Adventure Center received a $170,000 grant from the

state. This year the state has told the day care center it will receive $80.30

per week for each of the 30 children who are in the subsidized program, which

amounts to $125,268 per year.

Additional funds would be available for families on welfare but only one

youngster in the Adventure Center's program qualifies. Subsidies for six

others, whose families fit the category of the "working poor," will be lost.

"We have many single parents and many two-parent families who are struggling

on incomes $30,000 to $40,000 a year," Ms Maxwell said. "Those are people who

will get clobbered."

What the new state formula would force her to do, she said, is to drop the

children of the working poor in favor of children on welfare because another

$75 per child per week is available from the state's welfare department.

"If I had 11 children on welfare, I could stay in business and serve

everyone," she said. "But I have only one on welfare. People who are on

welfare cannot afford to live here."

The parents of the 30 youngsters in the subsidized program pay anywhere from

$8 to $135 per week. The other 38 youngsters are considered to be in the day

care center's full tuition program which costs $135 per week for full-time

care.

"But only a few of those children are in the full-time program, most are in

half day or the before- and after-school program," Ms Maxwell said. "There are

only 9 to 11 children on the full-day program."

At Wednesday night's meeting the selectmen debated whether to recommend

funding through December 31, 1996, through the town's budget year which ends

June 30, 1997. The day care center representatives urged them to continue

funding through June so that parents would not be afraid that the center might

raise tuition or cease operations in the middle of a school year.

"I'd would support funding through June (1997) for that reason," Selectman

Gary Fetzer said. "But we have to ask ourselves at what point can Newtown

afford to continue this subsidy if we are at $4,000 now."

Mr Mooney said that since the center's budget year ends in December, the lease

on the building ends in December and no one knows what state funding will be

available after December, it makes sense to pledge local funding only through

December.

In the meantime, Mr Cascella promised that the selectmen will meet with

Finance Director Ben Spragg, members of the Legislative Council "and perhaps

an ad hoc committee," to thoroughly review all financial information and

attempt to find a way to keep the center operating.