A Foothills childcare operator may have been forced to close her doors if the County hadn’t stepped up to help subsidize her rent.
Tracy Marshall, owner of Laugh ‘N’ Learn DeWinton, located at Seaman Sports Rink, provides before-and-after-school care for students at Heritage Heights and St. Francis of Assisi Academy. She said being closed for five months due to COVID, in addition to returning with lowered capacity and few registrations made things tight for paying her usual $5,000 per month rent to the County.
“We’re struggling big time,” said Marshall. “We’re already giving our parents a discount to try to entice families to come in, because a lot of them are working from home so they don’t need care.
“This will help immensely because if it stayed the same I wouldn’t even be able to continue.”
In addition to some children not requiring care with parents working at home, others still have not been able to return to work. Laugh ‘N’ Learn currently has 11 of its 30 possible spaces filled – a capacity that has also been lowered from 68 due to COVID-19 regulations, she said.
At its Oct. 7 meeting, Foothills County council agreed to charge $131 per child registered at the daycare for the month of September, and half-rent for the months of October and November, when Laugh ‘N’ Learn is set to receive government funding in the amount of $32,200.
The federal government has provided additional funding support to childcare facilities in each province, and the Alberta government will be providing licences facilities with $2,500 per month in October and November as well as $200 per space, whether those spots are filled or not.
She wrote to County council requesting rent reduction in addition to that funding, because she cannot qualify for the subsidized rent afforded to other childcare facilities.
“Other centres that are not part of the municipality are receiving 75 per cent rent subsidy, but I’m not even capable of applying because they do not allow rent reductions for municipalities,” said Marshall.
To help make ends meet, Laugh ‘N’ Learn relaunched its preschool program in October, but in the uncertainty of COVID there have been no registrations at this time, she said.
The government funding being received this fall will also help, but it won’t last long with additional staff and cleaning protocols necessary to meet AHS regulations on a limited budget with low and restricted registrations, she said.
“It’s awful,” said Marshall. “As far as we know, this is the only funding support we’re going to get, period. It’s not going to last us.”
Her only other solution, without the County stepping up with reduced rental rates, would have been to relocate – but Marshall said that would come with its own set of challenges. Currently, the before-and-after-school care program is conveniently situated between the two Heritage Heights schools, and changing locations would mean busing children to and from school rather than walking next door.
“Rent might be cheaper elsewhere with government subsidy, but it would be counterproductive,” she said. “I appreciate the decision the County made and I’m glad somebody was in there vouching for me.”
One of the people vouching for Laugh ‘N’ Learn was Coun. Alan Alger, who said despite government funding coming down the pipe in October and November, he knew the business would be in a tight spot.
“Even though it sounds like a lot of money, $16,000 a month, by the time the full rent is paid and the labour for teachers is paid at around $6,000 and then the other extra cleaning supplies and COVID things she needs to cover with it, this amount is not a lot,” said Alger, adding he would hate to see the childcare facility receive relief from the government only for the County to take it away in rent.
He asked that rent in October and November be charged at half the usual rate, amounting to $2,500, to help Laugh ‘N’ Learn get back on its feet. County council will review the rate in November to make a decision on future months.
“It gives her a couple of months to maybe garner a few more children into the class and get her feet back underneath her,” said Alger.
County CAO Ryan Payne said the County may be able to recover its lost rental revenue from the months Laugh ‘N’ Learn did not operate or pay, amounting to approximately $27,000, as well as future income loss from providing a rent reduction, through the Municipal Operating Sustainability Transfer grant announced by the government last week.
“The grant is intended to offset any revenue loss associated with COVID throughout this period,” said Payne.
Foothills County is set to receive $2.3 million that must be spent prior to March 31, 2021, he said.
