From August, new rates will apply in the city for all parents who bring their children to the day care center or use day care services. How does a family feel these changes in their wallet? Three calculation examples.
Those who would like to have their offspring looked after during day care can choose. Either the parents send the kindergartners to a privately operated crèche, whose employees bring the little ones to the kindergarten and pick them up again. Or the parents use one of the city’s daily childcare services. Both systems have grown historically and developed differently – also financially. This leads to differences in the tariffs, which can no longer be explained plausibly.
For example, parents in crèches benefit from the sibling discount, but not during day care. In day care, parents pay the maximum tariff starting at an annual income of 65,000 francs, whereas in day care centers, they start at 95,000 francs. In turn, this maximum tariff can amount to 100 francs per day and child in a crèche, with a maximum of 35 francs in day care.
These inequalities have long been recognized by urban politics. After several political initiatives on the subject in 2017, the City Council in a postulate report showed how he would like to adjust the fees for Tagesbetreuung and Kindertagesstätten.
Now the city council has approved the tariffs; From 1 August, all parents will be asked to pay under the new system.
Day care (Tagesbetreuung)
is more expensive, cribs (Krippen)
are cheaper
For the city treasury these measures are in the long term a zero-sum game. What is saved in one place is additionally spent on the other. The bottom line is that the new fees will be more just and eliminate unwanted threshold effects.
Kinderkrippen-Nurseries
The crèches or day-care centers in the city of St. Gallen are operated privately by clubs or companies. They are designed for infants to kindergarteners and are available to all families from the city. Since 2003, there is a subsidy model: The city financially supports cribs, which can offer a certain number of childcare places cheaper. Currently, the city subsidizes 370 nursery places, which benefits a total of 818 children. If a crib receives such subsidies, it must comply with the city’s parents’ tariffs.
Day care -Tagesbetreuung
1,400 of the current 5,000 primary school children and kindergarten teachers use a day care offer. The city finances the operating costs, with parents paying a fee. The day care has grown gradually and continues to grow. First there was the Horte, from 1993 the lunch tables were added, and since 2009, the principle of family-supplementing, needs-based and comprehensive day care: For each kindergarten teacher and primary school students, a place should be available from 7 to 18 clock, even during 9 of 13 school holidays. This standard is known by the term “FSAplus”.
Most families will feel the new rates in their wallets. Most of the parents of kindergarten teachers, in this age group, the differences are currently the largest. “The specific financial consequences for the individual family depend on the age of the children, the number of days spent on care, the place of care, the number of siblings and the financial circumstances,” says Christian Aegerter, Head of the Secretariat of the Directorate for Education and Leisure.
Simply put: The day care is more expensive, the cribs are cheaper. The infographic shows, based on three model families, what the new rates for the monthly budget mean.
https://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz/stgallen/arme-profitieren-reiche-zahlen-mehr-ld.1092671
Up to 30 percent less childcare costs (Krippe)
The examples illustrate that the new system is more socially equitable. For the family with the lowest income (32,000 francs), the cost of care drops by a good 13 percent. For the middle-income family, they remain almost unchanged, while for the family with the highest income (95,000 francs), they increase by a good five percent. This coincides with the statements made by the City Council in the fact sheet on the new tariffs: “In urban day care, most families will pay more in the future. The higher tariffs mainly affect financially well-off families. (…) Low-income families, on the other hand, pay the same or a little more than today. ”
This result is achieved in the three examples but by a mixed calculation, as a closer examination of the numbers shows. The fees for the crèche fall in all three income classes, most of the poor family (30 percent). On the other hand, the costs of day care are rising in the examples or remain unchanged. The biggest increase must be the rich family. They pays 40 percent more for their kindergarten teacher.
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