HUTCHINSON, Kan. — County Commissioners appeared to be willing to allocate at least $4.6 million and potentially up to $5 million to the overall childcare need in Reno County.
What they also asked for was some community fundraising to go with the childcare piece, along with getting private sector employers involved in the market study as it goes forward through the rest of the year and challenging the city to make the childcare piece the primary priority as they allocate their ARPA resources.
Commission Chair Daniel Friesen also wants to hear more from the childcare community in the coming months to see that the program is properly administrated.
Along with about $4 million toward housing and the previously allocated economic development and fire related funds, that leaves a little more than $1 million for all the other priorities that have been proposed.
The commission agreed to come back in a month and find out progress on the larger requests and details on how to spend the remainder from the county administrator in a study session following their regular meeting on April 26.