Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
Mackenzie Miller had had enough. Miller, a data analyst, listened for an hour Tuesday morning as people complained to the Salt Lake County Council about the board’s decision last week to slash county-run day care services. Then council member Aimee Winder Newton, one of the five Republicans who had voted to close four county-run day care centers, argued that their decision had been fair because some of the county’s taxpayers don’t use the centers. “To take their tax money to subsidize 271 kids doesn’t seem equitable,” she said. The crowd of nearly 100 people shouted in frustration at that remark, and Miller jumped to his feet. “That’s bulls---!” Miller yelled. The council’s chair, Dea Theodore, reprimanded Miller, and sheriff’s deputies and county staffers approached him. “Get your hands off me!,” he shouted at them. Miller then was escorted out, and he stayed outside the Salt Lake County Government Center’s front entrance as the meeting continued. Sitting on a bench, Miller criticized the council members who voted to cut the day care centers. “They get to say whatever they want to after the fact,” he said. The county says 271 families attend the four centers during the school year, and the number is closer to 300 during the summer. The five Republicans argued those services aren’t worth the $2 million the county spends on them each year. Residents flooded the council’s meeting room Tuesday, sharing their frustration and sometimes tearfully asking the council to reconsider. The decision to close the centers won’t be final until the council approves its 2026 budget. After the public comment period, council members voted down two motions to delay the closures. One, proposed by Winder Newton, would have kept the facilities open through May, with a 20% tuition increase. The other, proposed by Democrat Suzanne Harrison, would have raised the tuition 20%, but without a closing date — and would have directed Mayor Jenny Wilson to seek public-private partnerships to keep the day care facilities open. Both motions filed on 4-4 party line votes. The fifth Republican council member, Sheldon Stewart, was attending the meeting remotely, and did not answer when called to vote on either motion. Miller said he was surprised last week when the council voted to cut funding for the county-run day care centers in Kearns, Magna, Millcreek and Salt Lake City’s Fairpark neighborhood. The centers are scheduled to close by Jan. 1, 2026. Miller — who said his budget has been hit by rising costs and a recent divorce — said the council’s vote will force him to pay hundreds more a month for child care for his youngest daughter, who attends the Magna Recreation Center. To accommodate the extra cost, Miller said he will need to contribute less to his 401(k). He said he’s close to living paycheck-to-paycheck, but he’s more worried for parents who are stretched even thinner. On Thursday, two days after the council’s vote, Miller launched a petition on change.org, to encourage the council to reverse its decision. That connected him with dozens of parents who share the same concerns. Brian Walker — whose three kids attend the Millcreek Activity Center — said he used to work for a company importing construction tires and treads, but was recently laid off after heightened import tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump. Already unsure of where he will live in December if he can’t find a job to pay rent, Walker said he’s now also worried about child care. Dale Frost, webmaster for the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, said the day care cut will make things even harder for him and his wife, an engineer at Hill Air Force Base. She was furloughed because of the ongoing federal government shutdown. “The truth is, I’m tired,” he told council members. “I’m so tired of having to find another day care.” Frost said his children were in the child care program at Hill Air Force Base — but funding for that cut by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Frost said he was excited to find a day care option at the Northwest Community Center. The family was heading to a trunk-or-treat event at the community center when Frost learned the day care would be closing. After that, he said, the Halloween-themed night was “bittersweet.” After Miller was escorted from the meeting, tensions cooled in the meeting room, but only temporarily. Emotions ran hot again a few minutes later, when Theodore agreed with Winder Newton that the program was not equitable. “I don’t have this service in my district, and there are other districts that do not have it as well,” she said. “And there are people working their butts off in my area.”
