Two and a half years after AMS Assembly voted to transfer money from the After-Hours Childcare fee to the Ban Righ Centre, the transaction is finally being put through
The AMS promised to give the centre money in July 2005 after the cancellation of the AMS-run After-Hours Childcare service (AHC).
A motion passed at last night’s Assembly resolved that the AMS will pay the outstanding amount plus accrued interest.
The AHC provided subsidized evening and weekend childcare from 1995 to 2005.
On March 16, 2005 the AMS Board of Directors cancelled the service. The executive wanted to create a grant program whereby parents who needed childcare services could apply for aid, but this too was cancelled when it was deemed too costly and complicated.
The AHC’s $1 opt-outable fee had already passed, so the AMS decided to give the $7,797collected in September 2005 to either the Ban Righ Centre or Queen’s Day Care.
Neither group ever received it.
Gamila Abdalla, Ban Righ Centre student advisor, and Eileen Beauregard, executive director of Queen’s Day Care, both told the Journal their service hadn’t received any money.
The Journal spoke with AMS Controller Scott Bell on Jan. 15 to ask for confirmation the money had been sent. AMS Vice-President (Operations) John Manning said Bell notified him that day the money was still sitting in an account.
“We want to thank the Journal for bringing this to our attention,” Manning told Assembly last night.
Manning said he will see Barb Schlafer, Ban Righ Centre’s director, today to discuss the issue and the money will be given to the Ban Righ Centre as soon as possible.
AMS President Kingsley Chak said the executive will speak with Bell to determine how to calculate accrued interest.
“It’s definitely a mistake that the previous executive made,” Chak said. “It’s something that just didn’t happen. It was just an oversight.”
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