European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday August 16, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 3child care fees going up oct. 1 by Amy Geiszler Jones . Bureau child care fees will increase about 10 percent by oct. 1 at military child development centers worldwide to cover employee pay raises the department of defense has ordered. In revamping the fee Structure the defense department has changed the income ranges added a fifth income category and raised individual category fees. It also has built in a provision to allow some bases to charge even higher fees so centers can pay higher wages to attract qualified workers in highly competitive labor markets. Under the military child care act of 1989, which brought about the income based fees the defense department will annually review and if necessary revise the fees. The uniform income based fees were first implemented last year with some centers converting to the Jurice Structure before the oct. 1, 1990, deadline Given in the act. Previously prices varied from installation to installation and most patrons at a specific Center paid about the same fees regardless of income. The upcoming increase reflects both a january 1991 pay raise of 4.2 percent and a similar raise expected in january 1992 for government employees including child care assistants according to Bruce Mcintosh a Safe a chief of morale welfare and recreation operations. A second fee Range called optional High Cost care has been introduced into each of the five categories. Those prices do not mean that additional or special care for children is available at a higher Price. But the higher rates offer centers a greater financial base to draw upon if they need to pay higher wages to compete for employees in the local labor Market Mcintosh said. Installation or base commanders set the fees within the ranges provided. To charge the optional High Cost fees commanders must prove that the higher fees Are necessary Mcintosh said. He noted that very few if any Safe centers should need to exercise that option. Besides making child care More affordable for lower income patrons the military child care act was designed to improve the Quality of Day care and to increase salaries and offer educational training for the child care assistants. The child care work Force typically has had High turnover due in part to Low salaries for demanding work child care experts have  care fees the new weekly fee rates will take effect no later than oct. 1. The first rates listed Are regular fees. The second Are the so called optional High Cost rates that some bases will charge if the care centers must pay higher wages to compete for workers in local labor markets. Current fees up to $27,000 $27,001 to $42,000 $42,001 to $59,000 and above new fees income of up to $11,000iiijiiii $27,000 $27,001 to $40,000iliiliilll$ss.ooo $55,001 and More fee Range $31 -$41 $42-$ s2 $53-$63 $64-$74 regular fees Fuget $31-$39 $34-$43 $46-$57 $49-$61 salh�?1 $70-$81 $75-$06 a amps Susan Harris entry level pay before june 1, 1990, was $4.64 per hour. Salaries for caregivers now Range from $5.93 to $10.58 per hour. But the increase in wages and a decrease of incoming fees have led to red Ink on Many of the Ledger sheets of a Safe a child development centers. 1 a a lot of them Are losing Money right now a Mcintosh said. He estimates that Only 10 of the command s 25 centers a May break even or make a profit this  before the act took effect More broke even or ran in the Black he said. One reason the new fees a made it harder to break even is that 52 percent of a Safe a patrons saw at least a $12 reduction per child in their weekly child care Bill Mcintosh said. Centers at Span Dahlem a Germany and Raf Mildenhall England Are among those losing Money. A i was ahead until i started paying the increased payroll. We started taking a nose dive As soon As we started paying the new payroll a said Virginia Green director of Spang Dahlem Scenter. In june 1990, her books showed she was $11,000 in the Black. The Center ended fiscal 1990 in the red and Green projects the Center will lose More than $40,000 by sept. 30, the end of fiscal 1991. But Green said that according to a report cards Quot on the financial status of All Safe centers a a we re on the Low end of the  the loss at Mildenhall s Center is even greater. Director Pat Edwards said she is currently facing a $55,000 loss and she expects the Center to end fiscal 1991 with a $70,000 deficit. She is already budgeting for a $40,000 loss for fiscal 1992. A centers deficit is picked up by the bases Central mar fund. A none of the Central mar funds Are going to go broke but it s a Drain on them a said Mcintosh. Patron fees Are considered non appropriated funds. In addition to paying the assistants those funds can also cover some food and Supply expenses. The centers also receive appropriated funds to cover other operating expenses and some salaries such As those of the director and training and curriculum specialists. Some other positions such As desk clerks will be converting from non appropriated funds to appropriated funds by oct. 1 As Well Mcintosh said. Also according to Green one of every six caregiver positions in a Center can pull its salary from appropriated funds under the child care act. Reducing the payroll demands on the non appropriated funds will help lower a centers deficit agreed Mcintosh and Green. A if we have the right number of  fund positions we can break even with a sliding scale fee and payroll expense a said Green. A i really believe it will work when All the appropriated fund positions Are in  according to a spokesman for the Navy in Europe Nav eur a 13 centers a have not been running in the  Safe centers can put the revised fees into effect before oct. 1. Nav eur centers will begin charging the new fee Structure on oct. 1, according to command officials. Usa eur did not respond by press deadline to questions about when new rates will be put into effect at its centers and about its centers financial  storm parents May qualify for Relief by Amy Geiszler Jones . Bureau parents who had extra child care expenses because they participated in operations desert shield and storm May be eligible for some free child care now said the 3rd air forces child development specialist. In a Bill passed in april Congress gave the department of defense $20 million to compensate those parents and to cover the administrative costs of running the program Leslie lips said wednesday. Reimbursement will come in the form of coupons Good for either a certain number of hours or a Dollar amount redeemable Only at military child development centers youth activity centers or licensed family Day care providers lips said. The coupons must be used by sept. 30, which is the end of fiscal 1991. Those eligible include people who deployed As part of the persian Gulf War operations As Well As those who stayed behind and had to work extra hours. The . Air forces in Europe has received $208,000 for the program Accord ing to Safe officials. Safe will distribute the Money based on military strength at each base lips said. Each base commander will determine a the Best method to use in allocating the coupons to eligible parents lips said but Safe has directed that each eligible family receive no More than $100 Worth. Because of funding limitations parents should not expect to recoup the entire amount of additional child care expenses incurred during desert shield and storm lips said. Also the coupons cannot be applied to a Aback pay owed for child care she said. Applicants will need documentation a such As a copy of deployment orders or a commanders verification of additional duty hours a to get the benefits. Bases in 3rd air Force will Issue the coupons a within the next 10 Days a lips said. Spokesmen at 16th and 17th air forces did not know when All bases in their regions would distribute the  urges youth to build Quot civilization of love Quot Czestochowa Poland a Pope John Paul ii at an open air mass on thursday attended by an estimated 1.3 million people urged Young people from the two halves of Europe and around the world to unite under Christian values. Speaking from the Sunshine lit ramparts of the Jasna Gora monastery to a sea of Young faces representing nearly 80 countries the pontiff expressed Joy that so Many from Eastern Europe were allowed for the first time to attend the churches sixth annual world youth Day. A after the Long period when Borders were practically closed the Church in Europe can now breathe freely with both her lungs a he said As believers from Russia the Ukraine Poland Czechoslovakia the Baltic byelorussian Hungary Romania and Bulgaria mixed on the Plain below with their Peers from West Ern Europe America and Australia. A the collapse of ideology a he told the Eastern europeans has a left Many of your friends with a feeling of a great void the impression of having been deceived and a depressing anxiety about the  but he said that in Western Europe people were bewildered too citing drug abuse and an indifference toward politics. Urging the Young people to fight against despair he told them to be a artisans of that a civilization of love a and work generously to a build a society marked by the constant search for Justice Harmony Solidarity and  police officials estimated 1 3 million people had responded to the Popes Call to come to Poland a most revered shrine in Czestochowa to hear his message on the Marian feast of the Assumption. Organizers claim that As Many As 8x had come from the soviet Union alone. For the first time portions of the papal trip were being broadcast within the soviet Union by russian radio. The Pope has often spoken of his wish to visit the soviet Union As soon As next year. Young people living in churches or camped out in text cities on the outskirts were singing and dancing until nearly Dawn at the foot of the monastery. After the Popes Sermon applause delayed him from the mass. A we need this Joy a said the Pope. But he gently chastised the crowd a too much Joy can be tiring. We still have a Long Way to  it was the last full Day of the Popes trip to Poland. He was to Fly this morning to Budapest for the first papal trip Ever to Hungary