Carleton Place daycare fees avoid 2.1% increase after surplus
CARLETON PLACE — Parents of school-age children in Carleton Place will not be facing a 2.1 per cent fee increase. Once all revenue and expenses were accounted for, the daycare had a surplus of $322,725.67, which, when added to available funds from the county’s Local Priorities Fund, means parents are off the hook.
“We received $374,205 in Local Priorities funding for the age group six- to 12-year-olds, which is who the proposed fee increase would have applied to,” said Diane Smithson, chief executive officer with the town.
According to Smithson, the surplus eliminates the need to raise fees, noting that proceeding with the increase would have simply reduced funding from the Local Priorities Fund without providing a net benefit. In effect, parents would have paid more while corresponding county support would have decreased.
The increase would have generated about $19,200 in additional annual revenue to support child-care operations while maintaining current service levels for families.
Fees for all Carleton Place children at the town’s daycare will now remain the same, with no increases.
Meanwhile, an expansion of the daycare is still in the planning stages and, once complete, could accommodate as many as 26 kindergarten children and 60 school-age children.
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