Governor Cuomo proposes expansion of child care tax credit

Keeping kids at a day care in Western New York can be costly.

"A typical tuition in the full-time child care here at Kiddie Corner is roughly $12,000 a year," said Anne Gorman, owner and director of Kiddie Center, which provides child care and quality education to kids.

$12,000 per child is the average cost of child care in Erie County. It's a high price to pay for many working parents.

"I actually had to pull funds from savings accounts, and scrape funds from family members to figure out how to pay for child care," said single parent, Jackie Roberson.

Day cares like Candyland and Kiddie Corner have seen parents like Roberson walk away because of the high prices.

"I think it'll be a great solution because so many times, doing tours, showing parents around the facility, they sit there and tell me point blank, 'I can't afford this'," said Samantha Scioli, assistant director of Candyland day care.

"It's recognizing the need for quality care for children at a formative age that is huge right now," said Gorman.

Governor Cuomo is proposing a solution. His plan would give a child care tax credit to families earning between $60,000 - $150,000.

"If there were help, some type of subsidy, we would see both parents being able to get back to the workforce and a boost in quality child care," said Gorman.

"Our pricing in day care, we try and stay as low as we can but with minimum wage going up, it's hard to pay our employees... it's hard," said Scioli.

New York ranks as one of the most expensive states for child care. With Cuomo's plan, an estimated 200,000 families could see an increase in child care tax credit from $169 to $376. 

"If they're working part time and they want their kid to come part time, they're pretty much  taking their entire paycheck from work and paying day care," said Scioli.

Cuomo's plan could cost $42 million.