Fairfield Nursery School opposes proposed rental hike from Fairfield Council

A beloved child care that has served generations of the Fairfield community for more than 65 years is in a battle for survival following a proposed rental hike from council.

A beloved child care that has served generations of the Fairfield community for more than 65 years is in a battle for survival following a rental hike from council.

Fairfield Nursery School on York St in Fairfield was slapped with a proposed rental increase from Fairfield City Council from $7,000 to $40,000 per year.

The nursery was notified in May, following a land reclassification to commercial, leading to an increased rental value of around $120,000 per year.

Fairfield Nursery School manager Marcia DeLabarra said the centre could pay $40,000 for the first year, but was worried the centre would struggle to meet the new rental value down the track.

“It was stressful because at that moment we didn’t know how much the rent was going to go up and how we were going to get the money,” she said.

Fairfield Nursery School has been serving the Fairfield communtiy for decades. Picture: Fairfield Nursery Facebook.

‘We had a few people who came to us panicking as they said they heard the centre was going to close, but we’re not at that point yet.”

In a change.org petition, the community-based centre called on Fairfield council to reconsider their proposal which “threatens our ability to continue providing essential services to our community”.

“The proposed increase is not only detrimental to us but also impacts hundreds of families relying on us for their children’s early education at a reasonable fee,” the petition said.

Ms DeLabarra, who has worked at the nursery since 2002, said the centre would consider increasing fees for families but didn’t “want to stress them without any reason”.

The nursery has places for children aged two to five years old. Picture: Fairfield Nursery Facebook.

“The families that we have are families from low socio-economic levels and only one parent is working or have just arrived in Australia, some are refugees so we don’t want to hurt those families,” she said.

“When we started it was one of the few centres that had multicultural staff and multicultural menus at lunch time, so multiculturalism was embedded in every practice.

“The parents trust our educators and those parents have been sending their children to us, we have looked after three generations of families.”

Ms DeLabarra said the nursery had a meeting with council and mayor Frank Carbone last week to discuss a potential counter offer and doesn’t believe the centre will close.

Fairfield Nursery School has opposed Fairfield council's proposed rental hike. Picture: Fairfield Nursery Facebook.

“The last resort would be to give it to the council so they can administrate the nursery and they can put fees up if they want,” she said.

“The mayor is very passionate about the community and about the community’s concerns and we believe he will support us.”

A spokeswoman for Fairfield council said Fairfield Nursery School is a privately-run business and council has supported the nursery school with community rates for over 60 years.

“The lease agreement has now expired and we are in discussions to negotiate new lease terms as we are required to do with all council assets, acting responsibly in the best interests of the whole community,” the spokeswoman said.