Economy blamed for death of Monticello child care project

The City of Monticello is preparing to relinquish $550,000 in federal grants after the city's school district pulled out of a joint child care center project.

Prospects for the Monticello Community Childcare project faded in December when the Monticello Community School District withdrew as a partner to the project. The school district was to be the operator of the 102-child facility under an intergovernmental agreement and provide the land, while the city was to use its standing to secure grants.

The school board's December resolution rescinded its agreement with the city. It said that going forward with the project would be imprudent in light of the state's 10 percent across-the-board funding cuts last October.

School Superintendent Chris Anderson said there were “simply too many uncertainties for the board to commit to a project of this magnitude.” The board said in a resolution that it was acting “in light of current and expected future economic conditions in Iowa,”

The project had been studied for six years after arising in a community “visioning” process. Resistance to the idea from in-home day care operators had stiffened in the past year, culminating in meetings between the school district and in-home operators.

The day care operators attempted to show the city had enough day care capacity, that budget projections for the center were unrealistic, and that operating deficits could force the district to subsidize the center from property tax revenues.

City Administrator Doug Herman said the school district's decision to put the project on hold left the city without options for pursuing the project.

“Going into this six years ago, the city never intended to become the operator of the child care center,” Herman said. “From the beginning, the plan was for the school district to be the operator.”

The city had already received extensions on its grant funding for the project, and putting the project on hold indefinitely would not have been acceptable to the funding agencies.

The project had received a $50,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, and a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

About $115,000 in private contributions and grants from individuals and foundations will be reviewed with the contributors to see how they would like the situation handled, Herman said. Some donors may want the money back, while others may for tax reasons want it transferred to other community projects.

Herman felt that the economy was a more important factor in the project's cancellation than attitudes expressed by some in the community that the government should not compete with the private sector in providing child care services.

At the time the project was first studied, Herman said employment was strong and most day care centers were not worried about competition from a publicly-funded child care center. As the project came together, layoffs at area factories had resulted in more people staying at home to care for their own children, and even starting their own day care centers.

Anderson said the district's only significant outlay for the project was 12-15 baby cribs, which will be sold or returned to the supplier. He said the decision will not affect the district's cooperation with the city on other projects.