Subsidized preschool on chopping block
By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Thursday, May 31, 2007 2:10 PM PDT
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ONTARIO - Some of Ontario’s elected and appointed leaders were surprised recently when they learned the city has been subsidizing a preschool out of the general fund that costs taxpayers about $35,000 biannually to operate.
Ontario Mayor Joe Dominick said he requested the upcoming 2007-2009 budgets for the city’s Aquatic Center and recreation department be split, so revenues and expenses could be explicitly reviewed.
That procedure apparently had not been done before.
Departmental programs like the preschool, which is operated through the recreation department, were analyzed in detail.
However, previous financial information about the preschool program is apparently unavailable because this was the first year for a program budget, according to budget information provided by the city.
“It’s another one of those items, that with new people and new questions they get discovered. I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just saying with new eyes, you find out new things,” Dominick said.
Ontario City Councilwoman Susann Mills said she had not known about the preschool, and she was surprised to learn that other councilmembers, as well as the mayor and members of the budget committee, did not know about the publicly-funded program.
The publicly-funded preschool operates out of the recreation department building, and it served 48 children between the ages of 3 and 4 in 2006, according to budget information provided by the city.
The operation has been in existence for at least 25 years, and it usually operates Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. until noon, Ontario Parks and Recreation Department Director Kathy Daly said.
The preschool, along with an arts and crafts program, bring in revenues of $26,100 but have expenditures totaling about $64,712, according to the proposed 2007 to 2009 budget.
That means about $38,612 of taxpayer funds come out of the general fund to nourish the pre-school and the arts and crafts programs biannually, according to budget information provided by the city.
Daly and Ontario City Manager Scott Trainor said the preschool alone would cost $35,000 out of the general fund during a two-year span to operate.
Some of the city’s elected and appointed leaders apparently found that unacceptable.
The budget committee has met eight times, and it is scheduled to convene for the last time today at 6 p.m. in Ontario City Hall, Ontario Finance Director Rachel Hopper said.
Five-year budget committee veteran Ralph Poole recently made a motion to strike the preschool from the recreation department budget, and the general consensus among budget committee members was the pre-school should be eliminated from the city’s proposed budget.
“There’s the possibility something could change, but I don’t think it will,” Poole said.
Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for preschool services, especially when the community has preschool programs available, some of the city’s elected and appointed leaders said.
“I’m a firm believer that free enterprise should provide those services and not taxpayers,” Poole said.
Mills agreed.
“Other entities take care of day-care. Why does (the) city need to do that?” Mills asked.
However, Daly said the city’s preschool creates exposure to other revenue-generating programs run through the Ontario Aquatic Center and the recreation department.
Daly said she hopes it is not cut out of the budget.
“I would be disappointed if it was cut out. Debbie (Jeffries) and I are looking at adjusting the existing rates, to see if it can be self-supporting and still offer it to the community,” Daly said.
Trainor said he sees value in the city’s preschool program, but taxpayers may not pleased with its deficit.
“I think it’s a great program,” Trainor said, however, “Are taxpayers willing to subsidize it? As a tax payer, I would struggle with that.”
There are apparently five day-care, preschool and child resource options available in Ontario, according to the 2007 to 2008 local yellow pages.
Those options include Rainbow World Day Care and Preschool, The Giggle Tree Daycare and Preschool, Gingers Daycare, Oregon Child Development Coalition and Child Care Resource and Referral.
The city’s library and Aquatic Center have been struggling to remain open in recent years.
Generous public donations have even been solicited to keep the pool open.
“I’m here to find reasons why the pool is not making it,” Mills said.
One cause could possibly be the preschool’s deficit, she said.
Mills said she wants to find ways to keep the pool and library open and successful in the community.
“That’s what I was elected to do,” she said.
No Dhimmi wrote on Aug 14, 2009 9:38 PM:
And this isn't "racist," because Islam is not a race, anymore than Communism or Nazism are races, both of which killed far fewer people than Islam.
Disgusting. "