Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino today said that he was open to compromise on the level of parent contributions for subsidized day care funding but that county legislators would first have to realistically address the almost $4 million shortfall that threatens to shut down large segments of the program before the end of the year.

"I’m open to suggestions but they must honestly and specifically detail just where the money will come from to keep the day care program operating,” said Astorino.  “The parents and the children in the program, as well as taxpayers, deserve to know where they stand. So do the beneficiaries of the other programs that will have to be raided to finance the gap. I am willing to make tough decisions. I am not willing to pretend we can just find fictional revenues. That’s how Westchester became the highest taxed county in the nation.”

Westchester County is currently being sued by Democrat members of the Board of Legislators over the amount of money parents must contribute for subsidized day care. In the 2012 budget, the Board of Legislators set the parental share at 20 percent of income over the poverty level, regardless of how many children the family has in the program. Throughout the budget process, Astorino said the 20 percent level was too low to keep the program solvent, but his veto was overridden.

This spring when it became clear that the day care program would run out of money, Department of Social Services Commissioner Kevin McGuire received approval from the state Office of Children and Family Services to have the parental share raised to 35 percent, the level paid by families in New York City and 20 other counties. Westchester County families had been paying 33 percent as recently as 2006.

Despite the state’s permission, Democrats went to court to block the increase. The case is before Acting Supreme Court Judge Robert Neary who is expected to rule later this month.

Regardless of the ruling on the parental contribution, the $32.5 million the county has set aside for day care subsidies will start to run out this summer. Expenses are expected to hit $36.4 million by the end of the year, producing a $3.9 million deficit. The program is broken into three categories: Temporary Assistance, about 620 children whose family income is low enough that the county is mandated to pay the full amount; Low Income, about 2,700 children whose family income can run up to 200 percent of the poverty level; and Title XX, about 200 children, whose families qualify for a special county program where income can be up to 275 percent of the poverty level. Most of the Low Income program and all of Title XX program are discretionary, which means the programs are stopped when the funding runs out. DSS projections show the Title XX program running out of money at the end of July and Low Income starting to run out of money in October. Making matters worse, the overall DSS budget, from which the day care program is funded, has been hurt by an $18 million reduction in federal aid and a $5 million increase in Medicaid expenses in 2012.

"When people say just find the money somewhere else in the budget that means we have to take it away from something else," said McGuire. "There are no good choices here. Arguing over whether the parental share should be 20 percent or 35 percent misses the point that when the subsidy runs out, parents are going to be paying 100 percent. When a program runs out of money, it just doesn't appear somewhere else."

The chart below illustrates the $32.5 million child day care subsidy program in Westchester County:

* FPL – Federal Poverty Level (for Westchester family of three – $18,530, family of four – $22,350)