Pueblo County proposes lowering paid-absence allowance in CCAP amid budget shortfall; commissioners back letter to state lawmakers

Tammy Torres, Director of Pueblo County Department of Human Services, told the Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 30 that the county placed the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) on an enrollment freeze effective Jan. 1 because of budget constraints tied to a statewide provider rate change. Current families remain active if eligible, but new families cannot be enrolled while the freeze is in effect.

Torres proposed changing Pueblo County’s CCAP county rate plan to reduce the number of paid absences counties cover to pre-pandemic levels as a short-term budget mitigation. Under the proposal, tier 1 and tier 2 providers would have paid absences reduced from six to three per month; tiers 3 through 5 would move from seven to four paid absences per month. Torres said Pueblo County historically tended to underspend CCAP but that a provider-rate increase required by the state caused the…