Program / Facility Fee
For all parents who have returned to the Centre since our one week shut down in March you will begin to see a new item on your invoice. On top of your regular fees you should see an amount listed as “Program/Facility Fee”. We would like to shed a bit of light on this fee so here goes:
- First off please accept our apology if the invoice you got in the last day or two had an incorrect amount on it. That was an internal error that we will correct ASAP. So when you see an adjustment coming through your account this is to correct our error. We incorrectly charged a $40/child amount to your account instead of $25/child amount. You should be receiving a credit of $15/child.
- For many years we have been charging you an additional “Snack Fee”. This fee has now been renamed and repurposed into what you will now see as a “Program/Facility Fee” on your invoice. So what would have been charged to your account prior to the covid-19 pandemic would have been a $25 Snack Fee and you will now see the same amount charged but titled “Program/Facility Fee”.
- There are two main reasons for the change:
- We were determined to find a way to receipt you for these extra fees that met all the Provincial and Federal (CRA) requirements. The repurposing of this fee and the change of name does clean that situation up and we are now able to add this amount to your annual receipt that you will use for income tax purposes under “Child Care Expenses” category.
- Secondly, Discovery’s ability to continue to operate in this community and in our present building is tied to our ability to keep this building operational. So, for an example, when a roof needs replacing we have to come up with the funds to make that happen. This is an expense that other Centres who are in functioning school building do not have. In order to meet our obligations and stay in this building we do need to continue to place a significant amount of money into a Capital fund in preparation for these upcoming expenses. This Program/Facility fee is our way of making that happen.
- We do understand that means that it may cost more to have your child in our Centre than to go to another Centre in the neigbourhood, but to think of closing up our Centre is not really an alternative at all.
We thank you for your support and understanding.