Since 2021, Alameda County has collected roughly $500 million in sales tax revenue to improve access to child care and pediatric health care for lower-income families.
But not a single dollar has been spent.
Voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase in March 2020 to help address a growing shortage of child care, but a legal challenge by the Alameda County Taxpayers’ Association tied up the funds until last year when the state Supreme Court upheld the measure.
Frustrated child care providers were hoping county officials would release the first batch of funds after approving spending $165.8 million in emergency funding so they could finally apply for thousands of dollars in relief grants. However, the money appears to be caught up in another legal fight by the taxpayers’ group.
“If this doesn’t pass, I don’t even know that I will open by the end of the year,” said Lisa Zarodney, who has provided child care out of her home in Livermore for 27 years.
Zarodney said she has always operated her small business on thin margins and didn’t have much of a financial cushion when the pandemic hit and fewer kids came to her home. She received $5000 in federal pandemic recovery aid, she said, but rising costs for food, electricity and other expenses have only deepened her financial troubles.
When temperatures rise in Livermore, and she turns on the air conditioning to keep the kids cool, for example, her electricity bill almost doubles to $600 per month.
“You can’t do this business for the money because it’s not a profitable business,” she said. “You have to do it for the love of children, and that’s the whole reason why I do it, to give children and families the help that they need.”
After paying off her bills last month, Zarodney said she had just $200 to cover her own food and other expenses. She’s been drawing from her late husband’s retirement savings to get by, but she said the high taxes and penalties on those withdrawals are unsustainable.
Last month, the county Board of Supervisors tentatively approved spending some of the Measure C funds to prop up the county’s early childhood education and care system. Small family child care providers who serve low-income families, like Zarodney, can each qualify for $40,000 in relief grants.
A category of caregivers, known as license-exempt Friends, Family and Neighbors, can qualify for $4,000 grants.
That could help Gretchen Hernandez, who has taken time off her job at a warehouse to look after her 2-year-old granddaughter at her home in Oakland. Hernandez said she’s been living off her savings while she cares for the toddler, who requires one-on-one care because she was born with a rare form of Down syndrome.
“I have six months left of money, and that’s it, so I have to go back to work because I have no choice,” Hernandez said.
But it’s unclear exactly when caregivers can apply for the grants.
A lawyer for the taxpayer’s group told the supervisors at the Feb. 25 meeting that by rule, they couldn’t release the emergency funds without approving a 5-year spending plan for Measure C, which is still in the works.
“Voters were promised a 5-year plan and budget before expenditure of funds,” attorney Jason Bezis said. “It’s like placing the proverbial cart in front of the horse.”
He also said a proposal by First 5 Alameda County to spend 15% of the emergency funds to administer the money was “exorbitantly high.”
County supervisors tentatively approved the emergency fund as the first phase of the 5-year spending plan but will decide when to distribute the money pending a legal review by the county Counsel Donna Ziegler.
Ziegler told the board she would offer her opinion at its next meeting on Tuesday, but the topic does not appear on the agenda. Voicemail messages to the counsel have not been returned.
“This is an opportunity to transform the child care ecosystem in Alameda County,” said Mary Hekl, CEO of Hively, a referral agency with offices in Pleasanton, Livermore, Oakland, Fremont and San Leandro.
The emergency funds would include $1.5 million in grants for agencies like Hekl’s to help income-eligible families enroll in state-subsidized child care programs and to train the workforce.
She said her agency has maxed out the state funding it received this budget year for child care vouchers, but about 1,000 income-eligible families are still on its waitlist for subsidized child care. With more funding from Measure C, she said her agency can refer more families to licensed providers like Zarodney.
“I think this is what people voted for in the first place, so a lot more people can have access to child care.”
Zarodney said the longer she has to wait for funding, the harder it will be.
“If you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, or you see it and it gets turned off, it’s very discouraging, it’s really hard to try and keep going,” she said.