Port Townsend public pool could close because of high utility bills
Port Townsend’s public swimming pool may soon be empty if the school district and the city can’t find a way to pay the utility bills. -- Photo by Erik Hidle/Peninsula Daily News
By Erik Hidle, Peninsula Daily News
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School District Manager of Fiscal Services Steve McIntire informed the school board on Monday evening that the financial status of the pool was grim.
"The clock is ticking," McIntire said.
"From this last Saturday on, we are over budget on the pool."
He estimated that the cost to keep the pool open from now until the end of December would be about $35,000 over the amount originally budgeted.
"Last year, in 2007, the $72,000 that the city paid for operation of the pool came within about $1,500 of operating costs," McIntire said.
"The school district absorbed the additional costs at the end of that year.
"But this year, everything went nuts with oil costs, and it's going to cost much more."
As part of an agreement between the city and the district, the municipal swimming pool on the Mountain View Elementary School campus is operated by the city but is owned by the Port Townsend School District.
The city is responsible for the funds to keep the pool running, but any bills from utility companies go directly to the school.
The current agreement has the city paying for up to $72,000 of the pool's operating costs each year.
McIntire said that amount had been spent by the end of last week, after just eight months of pool operation.
Can't pay
McIntire said the school district budget is so tight right now that it can't possibly absorb a $35,000 debt to fund the operation of the pool until the end of the year.
Port Townsend Finance Director Michael Legarsky said the city can't afford $35,000 for the pool, either.
"The city is going to have trouble shouldering the cost of pool," Legarsky said.
"In my talks with [City Manager] David Timmons, he said he was going to be looking to other partners in community to help out."
Legarsky said he had little other information about the pool, adding that Timmons or Public Works Director Ken Clow are in charge of decisions about pool management.
Timmons was on vacation, and Clow did not respond to repeated call left at his office, on Tuesday.
City Events Coordinator Carla Abrams confirmed that she and Clow had met with McIntire, and that the city was working on the problem.
"We are working on some options," McIntire said.
"They range from closing the pool to trying to run it part of the time and pay for it, or just running through the end of December and some way finding a way to pay for it.
"But the school board's response to that was that they realize the budget was stressed and strained, so how can they afford it."
Responsible to students
School board member Bobby DuBois made it clear what he thought of the situation on Monday night.
"Our responsibility is to the students, and to the school district," DuBois said.
"We can't say we have to do whatever we can to keep it open for the general population because we're not responsible for that.
"That's just not our job."
McIntire said it was not an ideal situation for the school board to be in.
"The decision to close the pool should not be our decision, or at least not ours alone.
"But the city doesn't have the resources, and we don't have the resources either."
"If this happens, I don't think school escapes blameless, even though I don't think we really have anything to do with it.
"As of right now, that pool just does not play a role in our education at all," he said, other than the swim team's use of it through October.
He said he would not support closing the pool while a school sport was relying on it.
Make Waves!
David Hero of Make Waves! in Port Townsend said the organization's steering committee would meet today to discuss the situation, but added that the group doesn't have funds to donate.
"We don't have any money at this point," Hero said.
"Our primary goal now is to try and build a new facility, and at this point, what little money we do have, we are spending on feasibility studies and other pre-development."
The group is raising money through private sources for a40,000-square-foot community swimming pool and fitness center it envisions near Kah Tai Lagoon and the Port Townsend Park and Ride.
It would take up to $10 million to build the center, Make Waves! leaders have said.
They hope to open the center in 2013.
"If the current pool closes, then that's a whole generation of people who don't get to use the pool.
More than 1,400 people use the aged Mountain View Elementary School pool, Make Waves! leaders have said.
Voters recently approved a levy-lid lift for the Port Townsend Library. Revenues from the measure will free money in the city general fund, which now goes to the library, for operation of parks and recreational facilities such as the pool.
However, that money will not be collected until April 2009.
"We don't have savings, and we don't operate on credit," McIntire said.
"This likely won't be fixed until April."
McIntire said that, in the meantime, all parties involved will come up with a plan, and that he would continue to meet with city officials to find a solution.
"It may show up when the council meets on Sept. 15," McIntire said.
"But until then this is where we are at now."
Monday's City Council meeting be at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers on the second floor of historic City Hall, 540 Water St.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 09. 2008 9:00PM