For the past 25 years, the Easter Seals Child Development Center in Falls Church has been paying the city just $1 per year in rent. But if the Falls Church City Council has its way, the day care center could soon be paying the city more than $120,000 per year.
The lease on the Child Development Center — the only day care in Falls Church offering infant care — expires Nov. 11, though city and day care officials are still hashing out new terms of the lease. The two sides were set to meet late Thursday to discuss options, Falls Church Mayor Nader Baroukh said.
City officials argue that allowing the day care to use its building essentially rent-free is unfair to taxpayers, and the Falls Church School Board has expressed interest in moving its own preschool programs there.
Day care officials say that because they pay all utilities and maintenance costs — including $12,000 to repair a broken sewer line last year — the city hasn’t had to spend a dime on the day care facility for a quarter-century. They called the city’s proposed two-year lease — $121,000 plus utilities, maintenance and liabilities per year — “ridiculously high” and submitted a counteroffer Thursday. The day care wouldn’t provide details on its new offer.
Meanwhile, as the day care center’s lease nears its expiration date, parents are worried they’ll be forced to search for new child care soon.
Jeffrey Ross, whose 23-month-old son Jeffrey Ross III is blind, says he relies on the Easter Seals day care because it’s equipped to handle disabled students.
“We’re both working parents. We didn’t know how to make it work without any day care,” he said, adding that his son’s disability made it difficult to find a day care in the area. “If they shut it down, we’re going to be in a bad place.”
Falls Church Vice Mayor David Snyder said he’s confident a new agreement will be reached. But he said the day care center has shied away from negotiations in the past, and the city is just looking to start a conversation.
“We want a real negotiation and a real discussion with [the Child Development Center],” he said. “We don’t want a termination. But if there’s nobody at the other side of the table to negotiate with, we didn’t think that would be fair to the taxpayers.”
The day care’s vice president for child development programs and services, Marilyn Ricker, said the center has always been open to negotiations.
“I think the city was foolish in saying that Easter Seals isn’t negotiating, because we are and we’ve been working very hard at it,” she said.
