Cape council, school board seek 'deep dive' into operating costs for two pools

Cape Girardeau city and school district staff plan to dive into the finances of operating two indoor pools as officials wrestle with how best to recover costs.

City manager Scott Meyer told council and school board members, at a joint study session Tuesday at the Osage Centre, staff members need to do “a deep dive” to determine annual operating costs and how much revenue could be generated to help cover costs.

It’s unclear how long it will take to compile the information and present it to the council and school board.

Throughout more than a year of planning, the focus was on constructing a single indoor facility with a competitive pool and a leisure pool.

But an ad hoc advisory committee last month concluded, to keep costs down, the city and the Cape Girardeau School District should construct a leisure pool on the Jefferson Elementary School campus and renovate the 50-meter Central Municipal Pool as a competitive swimming venue.

The plan would keep the project within the $10 million construction budget, according to consultant George Deines. The city has committed $6 million to the project; the school district, $4 million.

But council and school board members Tuesday voiced concern about the expense of operating two pools and how to recover some of those costs.

Council members Daniel Presson and Robbie Guard said the pool operations will never break even, but they and others at the meeting emphasized the need to get a handle on the potential costs.

Presson said he wants to know all of the potential costs associated with the proposed project.

“I want to know the worst-case scenario. We’ve got to make sure we have every cost figured out,” he added.

It costs close to $400,000 a year now to operate the municipal pool. After revenue, the city and the school district expend about $240,000 to subsidize the remaining costs.

Deines said it could cost more than $1 million annually to operate two indoor pools. But increased revenue could reduce the amount of subsidy needed from the school district and the city government, officials said.

Mayor Bob Fox said school and city staff need to come up with a plan to better cover operational costs.

“To me, that is critical,” he said.

But he acknowledged there is no way to make aquatic centers profitable.

“Every aquatic center is subsidized in one form or another,” Fox said.

School board president Jeff Glenn, who chaired the ad hoc committee, said the advisory group concluded operating costs could double rather than triple if there is additional revenue.

City and school officials have said there will be fee increases for use of the Central Pool and new charges for use of the leisure pool, but those charges have not been calculated.

Parks and recreation director Julia Jones said two indoor facilities would allow the city to implement new revenue-generating programs such as possibly yoga on surfboards.

Deines, with the consulting group Counsilman-Hunsaker, said the $3.25 daily fee charged the general public to use the Central Pool is well below the industry average, which ranges from $6 to $9.

He advised a reasonable fee in Cape Girardeau would be in the $6, $7 or $8 range.

Admission fees and rentals could allow recovery of 35% to 50% of operational costs at a renovated Central Pool and from 50% to 75% at the leisure pool, Deines said.

Meyer, the city manager, said operating the two pools could require an annual subsidy of $500,000.

As for construction, Deines said $6 million could be spent on renovating the Central Pool. The cost, however, would climb if the base of the pool has to be replaced.

Detailed testing is needed to determine the condition of the base, he said.

City and school officials initially hoped to construct two pools under one roof on the Jefferson School campus, but abandoned the idea because of the estimated $25 million price tag.

They settled instead on a plan to reconstruct the Central Pool and house it in a permanent, steel-framed, tent-like structure and construct and enclose a leisure pool in a similar structure.

Guard, the councilman, said, “This isn’t what we all wanted, but this is the best with what we’ve got.”

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