Legislator Sheila Marcotte (R-Eastchester) and Legislator Michael Smith (R-Mt. Pleasant) have crafted a plan that would immediately help fund the County’s child care subsidy program. The program as currently funded is expected to run out of its appropriated funding this summer.
The Republican Legislators are proposing a budget amendment to transfer more than a million dollars that was placed into a slush fund created by the Democrats in the 2012 county budget. The slush fund is comprised of budget lines that are not dedicated to any specific program or entity. The slush fund budget lines carry vague titles like BoL-Youth and Education, BoL-Environment, BoL-Advocacy and BoL-Arts and Culture.
County Executive Rob Astorino vetoed the slush fund budget lines with Republican Legislators voting to uphold the vetoes for well over a million dollars in spending of “pork”. Legislators Marcotte and Smith call for those funds to be transferred through a budget amendment to the Department of Social Services to provide the funding to continue the child care subsidy program.
In the proposed 2012 budget plan presented to the Board of Legislators, the family share portion of the child care costs was established at 35%. The Democrats on the Board of Legislators changed that amount to 20% without fully understanding the fiscal impact of their decision. DSS Commissioner Kevin McGuire told the Budget Committee during his Department’s presentation that by reducing from 35% to 20%, the parent share portion for the daycare program, it would not be properly funded. The amount of money that the Democrats appropriated for the program in their budget will now run out of money this summer.
Legislator Marcotte is a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. “It is very clear that the warnings we heard from the Department of Social Services in December were well founded.” Marcotte said. “The million or so dollars that the Democrats set aside to spend on pork could go a long way to helping make up the shortfall of this underfunded program.” Marcotte concluded, “As a working mother of four, I understand that childcare is a significant expense. This is not a question about the merit of this important program, it is a question of simple mathematics. As currently funded and at the current contribution level from those that use the program, it will not be sustainable beyond this summer. It’s time for the Democrats to transfer their million dollar slush fund to the hard working families of Westchester County.”
Freshman Legislator Michael Smith, who sits on the Community Services Committee said, “I understand that the approximately $6 a day increase in the family share rate that was proposed in the County Executive’s budget is a hardship for the families that we serve, but it was critically essential to keep the program solvent and to allow us to help the optimum number of families.” Smith went on to say, “As a member of the Community Services Committee, I and my fellow Legislators on the committee are dedicated to ensuring that those in need in Westchester are given the support they deserve to go to work each day and know that their children are being cared for in safe and affordable child care programs. Good intentions, however, do not pay our childcare providers. We have to provide actual dollars to keep social services programs operational. These children should not be held hostage by political partisanship”.
