Dozens of families are expected to attend a Strathfield Council meeting on Tuesday night to protest against the potential closure of two longstanding community-run centres,Strathfield One Stop Child Care Service (SOCCS) and Homebush Out-of-School Care (HOOSH).
Emily Boon and her two-year-old son Kobe,centre,at SOCCS in Homebush West.Kate Geraghty
Parent committees and staff at the centres – which have operated for 25 and 35 years respectively and are attended by more than 200 children – said families in the socio-economically mixed suburbs of Strathfield and Homebush West needed a lower-fee option and were concerned a private company gaining access to community land would keep it out of public hands for decades.
Emily Boon,secretary of the SOCCS parents’ committee,said it had been strongly indicated council would vote to put the sites up to tender,as was recommended by council general manager Michael Mamo.
“Closing a public,community-run daycare due to the mismanagement of council funds is devastating to the community,” she said.
Tina Webster – who has run the HOOSH for 35 years – said she was shocked the council would consider a tender after previously renewing their lease every five years.
“We’ve always had the best relationship with council;never not paid our rent on time,” she said.
“If they’d come to us and said,‘We’re in trouble,’ we could have tried to do something.”
Webster said that,like SOCCS,HOOSH was a pillar of the community,with two of her staff members having attended the centre as children and several parents of former children still involved.
“A lot of our families who come here have their families overseas,so we are their families,” she said.
In a statement,a spokesperson said Strathfield Council would decide at the meeting whether several council properties with leases due to expire this year would go to an “expression of interest” process.
“Council is responsible for managing the leasing and licensing of council property to ensure equity,consistency and transparency in decision-making regarding the use of its property assets into the future,” the spokesperson said,adding the council had not “tested the market for several[of its] properties in over 20 years”.
The council’s recently appointed mayor,Karen Pensabene,declined to comment until after the decision was made.
In published business papers,council staff recommend the centres be notified that a tender process had begun and be given a one-year transition period.
The papers state council would need to spend $279,000 on renewal works for HOOSH and $789,000 for SOCCS over the next 10 years and suggested those costs could be borne by private providers if they took over the sites.
Strathfield Council warned it needed to “review its financial sustainability principles and take immediate actions to manage ... worsening results” in its 2021-22 annual report.
“In the current year Long-Term Financial Plan,there is a forecast of a $7.427 million further operating deficit. This trend is not supportive of a council that is going to be financially sustainable,” the report read.
Last month,councillors voted to apply to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal for a special rate variation they said was necessary to “address funding gaps,especially infrastructure backlogs”.
Strathfield Council has also cancelled its annual Cooks River Fun Run,a bowel cancer fundraiser,for 2023 and 2024.