For experts in the field, Webster County is a childcare desert. However, this desert has nothing to do with sand.

Just as a desert is an open and empty space, Webster County is open and empty when it comes to vacancies in programs for children who need care while their parents are at work.

The latest numbers from the Linking Families and Communities group are strong. The group found that there are 1,743 childcare programs in Webster County. That actually sounds impressive, until you learn that there are 4,673 children in the county who need childcare.

A childcare desert has been defined as a place where there are three or more children for each room in a childcare program. Webster County fits that description.

For this reason, it is good that the city council is helping the Childcare Discovery Center build a new facility.

The Childcare Discovery Center has been located in a mall at 2329 First Ave for decades. S. The property was bought last year by Nestle Purina PetCare, which has a facility immediately to the south. Given the need to relocate, David and Tammy McNeil, the owners of the company, selected a location near 14th Avenue North and 32nd Street as the location for a new 16,400 square foot building.

To aid these efforts, the council is currently working on a process that will allow it to reimburse up to $ 600,000 of the cost of building the new building using tax increase funding.

To be clear, the city won’t hand the company a check for $ 600,000. Instead, this amount will be paid out gradually over several years after the new facility is completed.

There is already a lack of childcare facilities in Webster County. If the Childcare Discovery Center could not move and continue business, the resulting shortage of childcare would be catastrophic for both local families and the economy.

Therefore it is of vital importance for the city government to provide all possible help for this project.

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