Salt Lake County should get out of the child-care business when it competes with private enterprise, according to a resolution adopted by the board of governors of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.
In a resolution adopted by the board, Salt Lake County is encouraged to expand its child-care service to economically disadvantaged families and families of children with disabilities, "leaving to the private sector the extension of child-care services to children and families not having special needs due to economic or other circumstances."The resolution noted that the county began providing child care in 1969 because the need was not being met by the private sector, but in recent years the child-care industry in Utah has increased.
Kent Winterholler, chairman of the chamber's City/County Government Committee, said that last year some private child-care providers approached his committee and asked for help in getting the county out of the child-care business when it competed with private business.
Winterholler said the committee studied the issue at length and determined the county still needed to provide some child-care services the private sector couldn't, but the chamber's main emphasis is on boosting private business.
M. Mack Lawrence, board chairman, said the resolution was approved by the chamber's executive committee.