The lone day home in Cremona may have to close because it's on wrong side of the county line

Stunning views of the Rocky Mountains make it easy to miss the county line as you drive along Highway 22, northwest of Calgary.

The border between two aptly named municipalities — Rocky View County and Mountain View County — is a nondescript township road, unremarkable for passing motorists but suddenly crucial for Jessica Nevins.

She runs the lone licensed day home in the village of Cremona, which happens to be in Mountain View County. The village is 11 kilometres north of Rocky View County.

And she says that quirk of geography may soon cost her $1,800 per month, due to a new regional funding formula the Government of Alberta plans to introduce on April 1.

That's because Mountain View County falls within the provincial government's new "Central" region for day-home funding, while Rocky View County, just to the south, is part of the "Calgary" region.

Falling on the north side of the line means the day home will receive significantly less in government grants than it would if it were on the south side of the line.

She said she opened the day home just over a year ago in large part because she couldn't find suitable child care for her own children, ages four and seven, in the area.

So she quit her job as an educational support worker and says her income as day-home operator roughly matches her former salary.

But the looming changes may force her to close.

"We just don't have the flexibility in our budget to take an $1,800 cut," she said.

Parents are worried, too.

Almeda Sawatzky runs a ranch near the hamlet of Bottrel, just south of the county line.

She says she was thrilled when Nevins opened the day home in Cremona last year, because it's only a 10-minute drive from her ranch and her now two-year-old son loves spending time there.

"Jessica with my youngest little boy, it's amazing," she said. "He calls her mom."

If the day home closes, she says she'd likely have to look for an alternative in Cochrane, about 30 minutes to the south. But driving there and back twice per day — once for drop-off in the morning and again for pickup in the afternoon — would mean nearly two hours of daily commuting.

"I think it's very unfair for the rural communities to suffer," Sawatzky said.

"We have nothing available. You know? It's either Sundre, which is a 40-minute drive, or Cochrane. Whereas Cremona is, like, right in the middle here."

Nevins said many of her clients live nearby but work in larger centres like Calgary or Red Deer — or as far as Edmonton, in one case last year.

Having such long distances to commute for work makes having child care closer to home a big advantage for these parents, she said, but it means long days for her, as an operator.

"Kids get dropped off at 5 a.m. and then picked up at 5:30 p.m., because of that commute length," Nevins said.

"And I'm stuck with how much I can charge in this new scenario. So I'm open for over 12 hours and I'm about to to take a big pay cut."

Her day home is located next to the school in Cremona, which makes it easy for parents who require after-school care.

Changes aimed at evening out parent costs

The provincial government says the changes coming April 1 are meant to bring parents' costs for child care more in line with one another.

As it stands, parents are responsible for paying the balance once government funds — in the form of a per-child grant and an income-tested subsidy — are deducted from their child-care provider's base fees.

But those base fees can vary a lot and this approach led to "unintended consequences," where parents were paying wildly different amounts for similar services in the same region, said Matt Jones, Alberta's minister of jobs, economy and trade, in an interview with CBC News in February.

Starting April 1, parents will instead pay a flat rate of $326 per child in full-time care or $230 per child in part-time care, while child-care providers will see their government funding calculated by a new formula with amounts that vary from region to region.

The regional approach is intended to reflect the costs of providing child care in different areas, as it's typically more expensive for operators in Calgary than for those in, say, rural parts of central Alberta.

In a statement, Jones said the formula was developed "through extensive data analysis and provincewide engagement" and "four of the seven family day-home regions, including the Central region, have fee variations within $52 of each other."

But the variation between the Central region and Calgary region is substantial: $309 per full-time child and $201 per part-time child.

Nevins says Cremona is more aligned, economically and geographically, with the greater Calgary region than it is with the more rural parts of central Alberta.

"We are closer to Cochrane than we are to Red Deer," she said.

She feels using the county line, just 10 minutes to the south, as a hard cutoff for such a significant difference in funding is too arbitrary and wants to see the province reconsider how it defines its regions. She said she has reached out to province's child-care branch and her local MLA but has not received a response.

Jones said day-home operators who have concerns about the regional fee structure are encouraged to share them with the province. 

"We recognize that changes may affect some providers differently, and we appreciate their feedback," he said in a written statement to CBC News.

"Alberta's government remains committed to monitoring the system to ensure it supports both families and operators across Alberta."