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Scrapping Auckland Council childcare centres could cost ratepayers $1 million, a union says. (File photo)
Mayor Wayne Brown’s budget proposal to cull council-run preschools could cost ratepayers about $1 million in redundancy payouts, a union claims.
This is the same amount of money the budget aims to save each year by closing all 10 of the Kauri Kids childcare centres.
Mark Potter, the president of education union NZEI Te Riu Roa, said the plan to pull the plug on the centres hadn’t been well thought through.
“We’re sure that it has been a very quick and not thoroughly investigated decision just to cut costs,” he said.
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On Wednesday afternoon, NZEI Te Riu Roa sent an open letter to Auckland Council asking for the proposed centre closures to be taken off the table.
The letter said Kauri Kids ECE centres were “highly unionised” and had strong redundancy clauses in their collective agreement.
Each employee had eight weeks redundancy pay with an additional two weeks pay for each further year they had been employed.
“Given the long tenure of many staff at Kauri Kids, we estimate redundancy costs could be in the vicinity of $1m.
“This will far outweigh any projected savings from the closure and be another cost inflicted on ratepayers.
“We’re additionally concerned that the council has not given adequate attention to the costs associated with implementing the proposed closures,” the letter reads.
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NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter says the plan to pull the plug on the centres was rushed. (File photo)
NZEI arrived at the $1m number by comparing the average salary with the average time length of service at the childcare centres.
Salaries range from $51,358 to $101,390, with the majority sitting around $75,000.
But Potter said it wasn’t just about the money.
“They’re actually dealing with the future of children. A significant number of these children are in vulnerable, low social economic communities. These centres are providing high-quality education at a low cost.
“Many families won’t be able to get that elsewhere,” he said.
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Scrapping Kauri Kids across the city is part of mayor Wayne Brown’s proposal to close a $295 million forecast deficit.
The proposal has drawn a record number of online submissions, with 28,850 made, 37% more than the previous peak which was for the Emergency Budget in 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The overall submissions are expected to almost triple last year’s Annual Budget 2022/2023 consultation, which received 11,500 submissions.
In a statement, Brown said no decisions had been made yet.
“It’s important that we hear from the broadest range of Auckland’s diverse communities, and our response must be proportionate,” he said.
“Public consultation on the annual budget closed yesterday, and all feedback will be captured in a report for elected members to consider as we deliberate the proposed annual budget in the weeks ahead.”
Dave Stewart, Auckland Council’s general manager of active communities, said the council felt it had considered the full costs of closing the 10 ECEs it runs.
”This is not a proposal that the council has taken lightly – and [we] have included an outline of this thinking in the supporting information for the Annual Budget consultation.
“Exit and transition options would be investigated and may be applied differently for each ECE centre.
“The council would engage with enrolled tāmariki and their whānau, where possible, to support them to secure care through alternative providers.”
Stewart said council could not provide details on redundancy provisions for privacy reasons.