Pool could close in December, Port Angeles City Council warns
Swimming pool supporters listen as Port Angeles City Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski, at podium, delivers a presentation Wednesday on the city budget and forecast monetary shortfalls. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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With a firm plan for operating the William Shore Memorial Pool in place by December, the city will postpone closing the pool until March 31.
That's what the Port Angeles City Council told more than 100 people — many carrying signs saying "Save Our Pool" — who showed up for the Wednesday work session on the preliminary 2009 budget.
Pool manager Jayna Lafferty said after the meeting that she thinks the community will find a solution before December.
"I think we can do it," she said.
"I think we can pull together and get this done."
No public comment was permitted at the meeting, where city staff offered recommendations for dealing with a projected shortfall of about $1.6 million.
The staff and finance committee suggestion was to close the pool on Dec. 31, barring some community partner stepping up to take over operations.
"City staff met with the YMCA, Port Angeles School District and Clallam County to negotiate a transfer of pool operations, but we had no takers," said City Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski.
In 2008, the pool cost the city $390,000, Ziomkowski said.
To pay for the pool, fees would have to be raised by five or six times the present amount, and raised by another 10 percent annually, she said.
Compromise
After an hour-long discussion, a compromise — suggested by Council Member Dan DiGuilio — was reached to postpone the closure until March 31, if a firm plan for support from some community group was in place by December.
"I would agree that if we don't have something hard and fast by December, then the doors should lock," said Council Member Larry Williams.
Mayor Gary Braun agreed.
"I think that is the prudent way to go," he said.
"Hopefully people will be working hard and diligently, and we'll see what transpires.
"This is not an easy decision."
Each time the mention of locking and closing the doors of the pool was mentioned, audience members gasped and murmured.
Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton suggested funding the pool at 50 percent for 2009, a measure supported also by City Council Member Cherie Kidd, but the other council members did not support that measure.
"I want the pool to stay open," Wharton said.
"We need to give the community a chance."
Although the council reached consensus on the issue, Council Member Karen Rogers expressed concern that no direction was given to staff on where to cut nearly $200,000 if the pool does stay open through part of 2009.
"The pool serves the region, therefore it needs a regional solution," Rogers said after the meeting
"Concurrently, though, council needs to deal with the entire budget, and I don't think we accomplished that tonight."
Budget crunch
The pool is part of a bigger budget crunch, according to figures cited by Ziomkowski.
She said the city is facing both a decrease in revenue and increase in expenses.
The city has lost $800,000 per year through the closure of the Rayonier mill in 1997, another $350,000 when the vehicle excise tax was eliminated, and about $200,000 annually after the voter initiative to limit property tax increases to 1 percent, Ziomkowski said.
At the same time, the city has been hit with new services and unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments.
Ziomkowski said the weak economy also impacts the city's finances.
In past years, internal cuts such as in staff training and travel and supplies sustained the budget, but Ziomkowski said that was no longer possible.
"We cannot continue to do more with less," she said.
She also warned that if the City Council tried to absorb the budget problems using reserves, the reserves would be below the minimum requirement by the end of 2009 — and no reserves at all would be left by 2010.
Port Angeles' pool is not the only one on the North Olympic Peninsula facing a funding shortage.
The public pool in Port Townsend faces closure because of rising utility bills, and the public pool in Forks is closed because of a lack of operational funds.
The Port Angeles pool opened in May 1962 after voters approved a $300,000 bond issue in November 1961, and was expected to last for 40 years.
A $13.8 million bond issue to replace the pool was turned down by voters in November 2006.
Lafferty said she will help organize an emergency Friends of the Pool meeting to discuss how to proceed.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladialynew.com.
THE PORT ANGELES City Council agreed to cuts in funding for parks and service organizations on Wednesday.
At a work session on the 2009 budget, the council reached a consensus to allow staff to move forward with some of its recommended cuts.
Those included eliminating low-use neighborhood parks, to save $25,000, and cutting the ball field maintenance program, to save $20,000.
City support for several organizations would be cut in half in 2009.
The recommendation was to cut United Way of Clallam County by about $62,500, the Arthur D. Fiero Marine Life Center by $22,500, the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center by $27,500 and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society by $26,000.
City staff recommended that support for those programs be eliminated in 2010.
Other cuts that the council agreed to allow:
Public hearings on the 2009 budget will be held on Nov. 4 and Nov. 18, as well as Dec. 2 when the budget is expected to be adopted by the City Council
Last modified: September 24. 2008 9:00PM