Hamilton councillors could be set to exempt school boards and not-for-profit child-care providers from development charges, after the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board warned the fees could put child-care spaces in two new school projects at risk.

Public board trustee Todd White told councillors child-care spaces at a new elementary school in east Waterdown and an addition in Mount Hope could be cut, as the board expects to receive building permits — and pay the associated fees — in a few weeks.

Between the two schools, which each have five rooms for child care and 88 full-day spaces, the board would be assessed more than $550,000 in development charges.

White said provincial funding for school projects is a set amount and development charges were not budgeted. That means the

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