More than 250 Salt Lake County families would have to find new child care options by the end of the year under a Republican-led plan to slash services in Utah’s most-populous county.
In a party-line vote Tuesday, the five GOP members of the Salt Lake County Council signaled their intent to close four county-run child care centers in Kearns, Magna, Millcreek and Salt Lake City’s Fairpark neighborhood. These centers serve 271 families during the school year and upward of 300 during the summer for kids aged 2 to 12, according to the county.
The council’s 5-4 vote means affected families will receive a notice of the potential closures, but a decision won’t be finalized until the panel adopts the county’s 2026 budget in December.
“It’s not our job to provide this service,” GOP council member Aimee Winder Newton said at the meeting. “And when you hear that we’re subsidizing $2 million a year, in my mind, we need to cut these — the four centers that we’re doing full-time day care. It doesn’t make sense.”
Under the existing program, the county offers deeply discounted child care at about $460 a month per child for kids ages 2-4, and about $290 a month per child for kids 5-12. That’s about half of what non-county facilities charge, according to a study conducted by the Pathway Group, a consulting firm contracted by the county.
According to that study, low revenue from discounted fees and high operational costs led the county to shell out more than $7,000 in subsidies to each family in the program.
“I know sometimes it feels nice when you can try to help other people, but we’re not being equitable in how we’re helping people with this program,” said Winder Newton, who also leads the state’s Office of Families and serves as a senior adviser to Gov. Spencer Cox. “... It’s not helping enough kids in the valley [that] you can even justify it.”
Current program unsustainable, council says
The facilities were at or near capacity in 2019, but since 2022, fewer children have enrolled in the program, while inflation made food and staffing much more costly, according to county officials. Federal dollars supplemented those county costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that funding ended last year.
Mayor Jenny Wilson’s 2026 budget recommendation included a 20% increase for child care fees to stabilize the initiative, but according to the Pathway Group study, the program would not break even within five years without “streamlining operations.”
On top of that, there is an estimated $10.2 million in deferred maintenance across the four facilities, the study found.
Council members from both sides of the aisle agreed that the program, as it currently runs, is unsustainable.
Democratic members, however, sought to prolong the initiative to give families more time to find other arrangements and, as the consulting group recommended, the county an opportunity to seek out other partnerships.
Council member Suzanne Harrison, a Democrat, proposed a motion that the council approve the 20% fee increase and keep the child care program open through the end of the first quarter of next year. That proposal failed along party lines.
For her part, council member Natalie Pinkney said the panel’s Democratic caucus believes providing low-cost child care options is a worthy investment by the county government, and urged residents to reach out to their council members or attend the Dec. 9 budget hearing to have their voices heard.
“Child care is a significant financial burden for families …” Pinkney said in a statement. “We also understand there is significant room for improvement in how the county has operated its child care centers. We still believe a better and more fiscally responsible approach is to keep these centers open while we search to find a partner from the nonprofit or private sector to operate them.”
Winder Newton, who proposed the cut, said that providing a stopgap for the program to stay open longer could have been problematic to retaining employees in the meantime.
She said the state’s Child and Care Development Fund — which county officials say contributes money to about 17% of families enrolled in the program — will still provide funding for those who need to seek care elsewhere.
‘It’s mean’
Johnny Anderson, CEO of Great Beginnings Academy — which operates nine child care facilities in Salt Lake County and dozens more across the Beehive State — said there is “plenty of availability” at licensed centers in the area.
Anderson, who also serves with the Utah Child Care Association and previously represented Taylorsville as a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives from 2009-2016, conceded that for-profit providers like Great Beginnings are more expensive.
Families that receive money from Utah’s child care subsidy, he added, could likely have the state make up any difference in cost at a more expensive center.
The council’s Tuesday vote has led to public outcry over the potential cuts.
In a statement, Utah Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said she was “shocked and deeply disappointed” by the council’s decision, especially as many families will soon lose food stamp benefits in the midst of the government shutdown.
“Suggesting families ‘find another provider’ ignores the reality that nearby nonprofit centers are already at capacity, with monthslong waitlists,” she said. “These centers offered more than supervision; they provided quality, affordable care with wraparound supports like transportation and meal services. Expecting parents to find comparable care within a month is not just unrealistic, it’s mean.”
Correction • Oct. 31, 2025, 2:40 p.m.: This story was updated to correct the location of one of the county’s child care centers. The center is located in Salt Lake City’s Fairpark neighborhood.