– If there are government funds available for this purpose, it would not be reasonable to keep our own subsidies so as not to use money from the state budget – says Grzegorz Kubalski from the Association of Polish Counties in an interview with Gazeta Prawna.
Nursery fees until 2025
After Koszalin announced an increase in fixed fees for a child’s stay in a daycare center, a storm erupted. Deputy Minister of Labor Aleksandra Gajewska came to the city and decided to be the first to comment on the matter on the X website:
“I would prefer that such ideas not occur to me. They came, so we need to move on and put an end to this as soon as possible. Together with the president, find a solution – to clearly show how Active Parents should be implemented. Tomorrow I will go to Koszalin,” she wrote.
Later, during a conference with the city’s mayor, Tomasz Sobieraj, Gajewska announced that by 2025 parents will no longer pay extra for daycare. The fee has been changed to PLN 1,500.
The story does not end with Koszalin. Later, the deputy minister traveled to Łódź to confirm that there would be no increases (for parents) and that the change in tuition fees would be financed by the government. After the above-mentioned cities, new cities were added, which the former ruling party took advantage of, writing on social media about “robbing Poles under the pretext of smiling”.
Fee for childcare – PLN 1,500. Who will pay?
That is why Gajewska persists in correcting information that appears in the traditional and social media. The complaints are submitted to the Sejm. This time, Monika Pawłowska writes about salary increases in Zamość. Up to 1,500 PLN, that is, the amount finally covered by the government.
– It is difficult for me to intervene in a situation where care in public kindergartens in Zamość will be free of charge for parents. Yes, this was one of the goals of the Active Parents program – replies to Pawłowska’s message on the website of the 10th Deputy Minister of Labour.
We asked for a comment on, among others, the Union of Polish Metropolises. Sylwia Cyrankiewicz-Gortyńska, the organization’s social affairs coordinator, explained in an interview with Gazeta Prawna that in order to take advantage of the program’s opportunities, local governments increase fees in kindergartens.
– It should be borne in mind that the management of daycare centers is a task for the local government, but it is not mandatory. The costs incurred by local governments for maintaining places in kindergartens significantly exceed the income from tuition fees charged to parents. Local governments contribute significant funds to this activity. In our cities, the highest fee does not exceed PLN 900, and in Warsaw, kindergartens are free of charge, Cyrankiewicz-Gortyńska tells us.
The expert adds that the law introduced a maximum fee for childcare – PLN 2,200. Exceeding this limit will not allow you to participate in the program.
– I have no information about any of the UMP cities [Unii Metropolii Polskich – przyp. red.] considered to be more than PLN 1,500. With this amount, the parent who applies for financing from ZUS will not pay for the child’s stay in daycare – only for food. Today it is possible for parents to receive PLN 400 from the CPR [Rodzinnego Kapitału Opiekuńczego – przyp. red.]so if, for example, the stay costs PLN 900, they pay PLN 500. In order for them to continue paying PLN 500, the city would have to increase the fee to PLN 2,000 (from PLN 900), the UMP coordinator calculates.
Local government finances are in decline
So where do the increases in childcare fees come from? – Many local government units are struggling with budget cuts – as a result of a significant drop in revenues caused by the Polish Order’s tax reforms. It is only natural that local governments look for ways to supplement these funds. Especially since childcare was often co-financed or financed entirely from the city budget – in practice, from its own funds – says Grzegorz Kubalski.
And he emphasizes that there was simply a “realization of taxes, which naturally translated into an increase in taxes”.
As Joanna Proniewicz, spokesperson for the Association of Polish Cities, points out in a comment sent to Gazeta Prawna, cities will not gain anything from increases in flat rates, because the differences will be entirely borne by children. So what will change?
– They will only allow them to reduce the costs of caring for children in these facilities, which are increasing year after year. For example, in Częstochowa, the monthly fee for a child’s stay is currently PLN 721.40 for parents, and the rest up to PLN 2,816.29 is covered by the city (the surcharge for a child is PLN 2,094.89!). This is the real cost of keeping a child enrolled in a daycare center, says Proniewicz.
Representatives of the Association of Polish Cities are not surprised that cities decide to increase fees for daycare centers due to rising costs of care.
– They only aim to reduce funds for children to stay in daycare centers spent on municipal budgets, which are often in a very difficult state. Of the 2,477 municipalities in Poland, more than 1,550 are in a situation of operational deficit, i.e. they have less current income than is necessary to be spent on current mandatory tasks until the end of the year. It is worth adding that the differences in nursery fees in our country are often the result of the different services they offer. Local governments try to do everything they can to ensure that the quality of care for children up to the age of 3 is the best possible and is constantly improved, for example by offering a diverse range of nutritional services and educational support – explains our interlocutor.
Changes in contributions to local governments
In mid-July, Andrzej Domański’s ministry prepared a proposal for changes in the financing of local government units (LGUs).
– We know that the past few years have been very difficult for local governments. That is why we are proposing fundamental changes to the local government financing system, finally breaking with the policy of local governments’ dependence on political decisions.. The changes we propose will ensure the financial stability of local governments for decades to come, Domański said at the conference.
Therefore, there will be a general subsidy for local government units whose revenues will be less than their needs. It was proposed to abandon several fragmented reserves of general subsidies and create a “large” reserve to supplement revenues – as the ministry announced in a press release.
“Other assumptions of the new Law on the income of local government units include, among others: separating cities with county rights as a separate category of local government units and calculating the financial needs of local government units (compensatory needs, educational needs, development needs, ecological needs, supplementary needs) instead of the current shares of the general subsidy,” read the Ministry of Finance statement.
The Ministry estimates that the revenues of local government units after the introduction of the law will increase by PLN 16 billion in 2025, compared to the current system, which already includes a development subsidy of PLN 3.5 billion. The Ministry wants to ensure that each local government will have higher revenues than at present.
