The cost of “free” child care is soaring.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of a new daycare center for municipal workers Monday that will cost more than double the average price of child care — to a tune of nearly $60,000 per kid.
The pilot program will start this fall on the first floor of David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan after a multi-million-dollar renovation of a room for just 40 children, ages six weeks to 3 years old.
The childcare center co-ops an initiative of Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, that was announced in October.
Mamdani said the Adams administration didn’t allocate operating funds for the center, which Hizzoner said would have a $2.3 million price tag and will be included in the city’s upcoming executive budget.
That works out to $57,500 per child to attend the day care from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On average, day care costs in the city for infants come in at $26,000 and $23,400 for toddlers, according to the city comptroller’s office.
City Hall didn’t respond to questions about the soaring cost to the city compared to private center-based programs.
Services will be contracted out for $1.5 million, and another $800,000 is needed for start-up and administrative costs, a City Hall rep said.
The pricetag will be slightly smaller without the start-up costs next year, when the contract is expected to come in at $1.9 million for operational and administrative spending, the spokesperson said — still bringing the price-per-pupil to roughly $47,000.
The city has already dropped $10 million on renovating the 4,000-square-foot space.
The municipal freebie comes as Mamdani claims the city has a $5.4 billion budget deficit and that he needs Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature to hike taxes on the rich and corporations to bail the city out.
