County legislators want to know whether a change in the county's child-care eligibility rate has increased costs in other public-assistance programs.

When the county made the change - from 165 percent to 125 percent of the poverty level - some parents said that they might have to stop working or cut back their hours in order to take care of their children. Legislators have asked the county administration for a report detailing the impacts - those already felt as well as long-range estimates - on services like family assistance and the food-stamp program.

Families are "not just going to go away and disappear," said Democratic Legislator Jose Cruz. "They're going to go somewhere for assistance."

Democrats submitted the legislation, which also asks for figures on how many families no longer qualify for subsidiesand the number of day-care providers affected. During last week's Human Services Committee meeting, Republican Legislator Ciaran Hanna asked the administration to gather the information.

"I'm pleased that there is a bipartisan concern for this issue," said Republican Majority Leader Dan Quatro.

County officials reduced the eligibility rate in August. Under the change, single parents making more than $17,500 no longer qualify for child-care subsides. The move came after the state reduced a grant that the county gets for the program. The state says that the county, for a period of several years, wasn't spending all of its grant funds. The county says it addressed the issue and shouldn't have suffered the cut.

More than 900 children lost day-care subsidies as a result of the eligibility change.