Parramatta Council has backed down on a proposal for an increase of more than 30 per cent in child-care centre fees after a ratepayer backlash.
The proposed fee rise at the council's five, long-day care centres would have raised the daily charge for a child in childcare to about $75.
Details were revealed in a schedule of rates and charges for the current financial year in the council's management plan for the period to 2012.
A total of 29 written submissions objecting to the increase were received from parents who use the long-day-care centres.
Many parents said they would be forced to remove their child or children from care if the proposed increases were implemented.
At a special council meeting on Monday, June 30, the council resolved to limit the fee increases for 2008-09 to the March 2008 CPI rate of 4.2 per cent.
This would see fees increase by about $4 a day to $62 for long-day care and a $10 an hour for occasional child care.
The council will monitor usage of child-care services and examine the potential to establish a co-operative to support the occasional child-care service.