A state Supreme Court justice on Monday dismissed in its entirety a lawsuit brought by some members of the county Board of Legislators who challenged the right of the Astorino Administration to set the contribution levels for families enrolled in the county’s non-mandated, subsidized day care program.
In a 20-page decision handed down Monday, Justice Robert A. Neary rejected a case brought by several Democratic members of the Board of Legislators, including Chairman Ken Jenkins, challenging the authority of Commissioner of Social Services Kevin McGuire to raise parent contributions in order to keep the day care program solvent.
The court said the Board of Legislators, which wanted the share to stay at 20 percent, did not put sufficient money into the county budget to accomplish this. The court also found that McGuire had the authority to raise the family share to 35 percent, from 20 percent, to make up for the budget shortfall and that he followed the proper procedures to get approval from the state. Further, there is “no role” for the county board in setting the parental share and the county executive is not required to bring the full Board of Legislators into lawsuits of this kind.
County Executive Robert P. Astorino praised Monday’s decision, saying: “This ruling vindicates our approach. No one wants to see the family share increased. But when programs are running out of money, you have to act. Increasing the family share was an unfortunate but necessary action to shore up the solvency of our day care program. By under-funding the program, the Board of Legislators left us no choice.”
Non-mandated day care is for families whose income is above the federal poverty line by as much as 275 percent. These families pay a portion of the day care based on the amount of their income that is over the poverty level. In May, McGuire proposed increasing the parental contribution to 35 percent, from 20 percent, because the county was running out of money to pay for the day care program. McGuire followed the necessary procedures to change the parental share, including getting approval from the state Office for Children and Family Services, the court said.
“The court finds that actions taken by the commissioner…were proper as they were specifically authorized by state law and state regulations,” Neary wrote.
In proposing an increase to 35 percent, Astorino had argued that the share is nearly the same as the 33 percent Westchester parents paid in 2006 and the same amount paid by parents in New York City and 20 other New York counties. By increasing the parental share by $5.77 a day for a typical family, an additional 622 children can be served. Even with the change the county continues to spend $32.5 million on day care subsidies.
There is no change in day care subsidies for the county’s neediest families. All families on Temporary Assistance (those making below the poverty level of $22,350 for a family of four) will continue to receive free day care. The county is mandated to provide this service and has $7.6 million in federal and county funds budgeted for it.
It will take the county about six weeks to implement the new rates, as the process of notifying parents who receive this system must begin again.