After three years of project delays, San Benito County will
decline $500,000 in state grants for a low-income childcare
facility because it cannot afford to construct or operate it.
Hollister – After three years of project delays, San Benito County will decline $500,000 in state grants for a low-income childcare facility because it cannot afford to construct or operate it.
“We really tried with all our might to make this happen because there is such a need for preschool in this county,” said San Benito County Supervisor Pat Loe, who had been on a subcommittee working to keep the funds. “But we understand that what’s going on here is beyond anyone’s control.”
The state awarded the county a $500,000 grant for construction of the facility in December 2001, and the board approved a contract with the nonprofit Private Industry Council in March 2002 for a 3,600 square-foot facility at 1101 Community Parkway. But Hollister’s sewer spill that May and the consequent building moratorium put the brakes on the project, which only hit more problems when bids for construction of the 56-child facility came in over budget.
To further the problems, the intended operator for the facility, a non-profit called Go Kids, would require $519,000 to operate the facility in its first year, and the cost would rise progressively over the following two years, according to Kathy Flores, director of Community Services and Workforce Development. San Benito County can only apply for $500,000 in grants for the project each year, she added. Finally, Go Kids has informed Flores it cannot commit to the five-year contract the grant requires.
Supervisor Don Marcus, who worked with Flores on the subcommittee with Loe, told the board he hated to see the county send the funds back, but agreed with Flores’s recommendation that the board do so.
“Maybe the bids going over were a blessing in disguise, because we aren’t halfway through construction only to find that we don’t have an operator,” Marcus said.
Marcus, Loe and Flores all reminded the board that the county could apply again for the grant money in a year or two when the county might be in a better position to use it.
“We need to remember that there’s always an opportunity to apply for these funds again,” Flores said.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz urged the rest of the board to look at the details of the project in the meantime, saying they should be prepared when it is time to reapply for funds.
“I think to say ‘Let’s wait two years’ is not acceptable. We have to work on the logistics of this now,” he said.
Flores, Loe and Marcus assured De La Cruz and the rest of the board that this was their intention in returning the grant Tuesday.
De La Cruz made the motion to send the money back, and it was unanimously approved.
“I think it’s important to remember that by voting to send the money back now rather than later, we’re not going to be looked upon unfavorably when it comes time to apply for the grants in the future,” Marcus said before the final vote.
According to Deanna DeCarlo, director of Countryside Daycare & Preschool in Hollister, low-income facilities aren’t the only choice for some low-income families. DeCarlo said she accepts kids from Go Kids and Cal Works, both of which use state funds to help low-income families pay for childcare.
“I do have quite a few children on either one of the programs,” DeCarlo said. “As far as I know, I think most big centers do take kids from both the agencies.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at
jq*****@fr***********.com
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