SDRC delivers verdict on major Stanthorpe childcare centre facing permanent closure

The final decision comes after the only other remaining childcare provider in town shut its doors earlier this year, and the call will likely come at a cost for both families and the council.

DECIDED: The Stanthorpe OSHC will continue to be operated by SDRC for at least another two years. Photo: iStock

The potential closure of one Southern Downs town’s only remaining after-school care service has been overturned, but not without a financial impact for both families and the wider region.

The Stanthorpe Outside School Hours Care service first came under threat earlier this year in March, when a Southern Downs Regional Council report revealed the centre would lose its current Corundum Street premises on June 30, with no possibility of lease renewal.

Public demand for the council-owned OSHC was made clear when 96 per cent of respondents in a council survey supported the centre staying open, particularly after the closure of Stanthorpe Cool Kids left it the sole advertising provider in the area.

Southern Downs councillors voted unanimously to fund the centre at its new premises at 27 Marsh Street, which formerly housed the Stanthorpe Preschool and is directly across the road from Stanthorpe State School.

However the centre’s preservation won’t come cheap for either the council or families at the OSCH, with another 16 new family registrations bringing the centre’s total to 121 children.

The new OSHC will likely prove popular with Stanthorpe State Primary School families, as it’s located just across the road on Marsh Street. Photo Erin Smith / Stanthorpe Border Post

A report tabled at SDRC’s ordinary meeting on Wednesday revealed the projected expenditure for the move would be about $144,000, which with expected revenue of $104,000 puts the council at an estimated $30,000 loss.

“The three most significant expenses for the provision of this service are the hiring of a venue, the subscription to the Qikkids Childcare Program, and staff wages,” the report read.

“If the newly registered families sent one child to the OSHC each day for the remainder of the financial year, the service revenue would be boosted by in excess of $10,000.”

The report stated the council’s comparatively low fees were another contributor to revenue loss, with both after-school care and vacation or pupil-free-day rates several dollars below the region’s average.

The proposal would push daily rates from $19 per child to $30 and vacation or pupil-free-day care from $44 to $60 by the 2022-23 financial year, with expected revenue to reach $207,000 by that same date.

These costs to council were noted by both Deputy Mayor Ross Bartley and councillor Stephen Tancred, who hoped funding the OSHC would both alleviate Stanthorpe parents’ stress while making way for a new childcare provider in town.

“It certainly isn’t council core business, but I guess this comes under community obligation that if no one else will do it, sometimes we have to step up and do it,” Cr Bartley said.

SDRC will continue to operate the OSHC until at least June 30, 2023, and will review its finances and alternative options as needed.

The council first took responsibility for the centre in 2017 after the Stanthorpe YMCA ceased operations.