Kochler day care center: full fee increase only from September

The municipality of Kochel will postpone the fee statute for the day-care center (KoKitTa), which was only approved in December, and will only claim the new, increased contributions in full from September.

The background to this are protests by the parents' council.

Kochel am See

- As reported, the municipality increased the fees for kindergarten children in December by 80 euros for each booking time.

The costs are now between 165 and 205 euros.

"Many parents were shocked by this considerable amount," reports Sandra Hagenfeldt from the parents' council.

The statutes came into force on January 1, 2021.

It is mandatory that the community hears the parents' council in advance about "important decisions", says Hagenfeldt.

However, that did not happen.

Some parents only found out about it in February, others from the newspaper beforehand.

The behavior of the church has come across many families.

"The timing is very unfortunate," says Hagenfeldt.

“Families are on short-time work, they are worried about their job.” In addition, there was only emergency care.

And compared to the surrounding communities or Munich, Kochel is now very expensive, even if you have to deduct the new state subsidy of 100 euros per child and month.

"If there was a change of government in Bavaria, that could be canceled again," says Hagenfeldt.

Now there were two discussions with the community, in which representatives of the parents' council, the KoKiTa management, Mayor Thomas Holz and administrative staff took part.

Both Hagenfeldt and Holz say that they have “discussed intensively and constructively”.

The community explained that the expenses for the KoKiTa had increased more and more in the past few years.

Decisive for this are personnel costs and the general rate of price increases.

“In 2020 there was a deficit of 420,000 euros,” says Holz.

“The local council deliberately refrained from apportioning the entire deficit to the fees, as this would have resulted in an average of almost 400 euros per month.” Against the background of the state funding of a kindergarten place with 100 euros, the council said the increase considered "appropriate".

"In most of the booking categories, the payment amount for the parents is less than one euro per hour of care."

The day-care center is currently attended by 90 children who are looked after by 20 employees.

Parents and the community have now agreed to stagger the fee increase, also with regard to the corona support on the part of the community.

If a child was not at KoKiTa or was less than six days between January and March, no fees will be charged.

If the child has made use of emergency care, the fees that were still valid in 2020 will be charged.

In April and May, only 50 percent of the new fees are charged, for June to August only 75 percent.

The new fees will not apply in full until September.

The parents have now been informed in a circular.

The prerequisite is that the municipal council still approves the procedure.

The letter also states that the parents' council and the management of KoKiTa have agreed on a "closer cooperation".

"A facility will be created for the parents' council in the building where messages can be posted."

What does the parents' council say about the graduation of fees?

"It's better than nothing," says Sandra Hagenfeldt.

“We're not really satisfied.

But we had hoped that the new fees would not be so blatant. "

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