PARK BOARD SUGGESTS POOL FEE INCREASES

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Monday recommended rates for use of the city's two public swimming pools be raised.

The new fees are expected to more than double current revenue from the pools, which run at a deficit of about $180,000 annually.

The fee proposal approved Monday is expected to generate about $71,000 annually, compared to $33,500 in revenue from the pools last year.

Concession sales and contributions from the Cape Girardeau School District for operation of Central pool will add to the revenue total.

"By the time everything's said and done, we'll probably make up 50 percent or better of the annual deficit from operating the pools," said board member Steve Jackson.

"The last time we had any kind of rate increase was 13 years ago, so I hope this is a level we can maintain for a while."

Jackson said he believes the city council will support the proposal recommended by the park board, because it already has the support of representatives of the groups who use the pools, particularly Central Pool.

"When we got finished, we had a program that we felt was as close to something that everyone could live with as we could come up with," he said.

"I'm not saying everyone was thrilled to death, but we've had 13 years of basically free swimming and the amounts we recommended, I think everyone came away feeling they'd been treated fairly."

The park board considered three fee proposals, including one recommended by Parks and Recreation Director Dan Muser that was intended to increase revenue to as much as $97,000.

But park board members said Monday they didn't think the revenue projections were accurate because the proposal would have decreased pool attendance.

"I know the city would love to come up with a way for the citizens to pay for the whole shooting match, but I don't think that's feasible," said Jackson.

"The staff proposal would have had fitness swimmers paying over $400 a year. There are fitness alternatives in town considerably less expensive that provide more alternatives, and we felt that would substantially cut usage."

The park board recommended that adult daily admission to Capaha and Central pools be raised from $1 to $2, and child admission be raised from 50 cents to $1. Senior citizen admission would be raised from 50 cents to $1.50, and admission for all age groups will be discounted 20 percent for coupon books good for 25 visits.

The primary changes between the city staff's proposal and the one approved by the board is in the area of "fitness swim" and swim team rates. Also, fees for the Jaycees swimming lessons were dropped in the park board recommendation.

Those groups all now use the pool for free.

Muser said he would rather have raised fees further to offset the city's subsidy of the pools.

"It would have been nice to raise additional revenue," he said. "Our goal was for more than that, but at the same time it's basically a policy decision, and the park board makes policy recommendations."

Muser admitted the park board recommended the fee proposal that is most apt to get council approval.

He said the city also plans to look at ways to increase operating efficiency at the pools and market the facilities to increase attendance. He said the fee increase recommended by the board might actually increase use of the pools.

"I think it's pretty marketable," he said. "The rates aren't going to be by any means the highest in the area.

"The one thing people need to recognize, we happen to have basically the only pool of its kind in the state in Central Pool.

"We don't want to run anyone off and make it so it's unaffordable, but at the same time we do have a unique facility, and that means there are some costs there that other facilities might not have."

Jackson said that despite the quality of Central Pool, the park board didn't think the facility would be fully used if rates were increased too much.

"The city's proposal was based on current attendance figures, and would have been substantially more revenue," he said. "The problem was the subcommittee didn't feel like it was something we could justify.

"We felt with those increases, the attendance wouldn't be there, and it is better to have some money than no money."

Jackson also said he thought the new fees would be "marketable" to swimmers, especially with the availability of discounts for recreational swimmers who use the Central Pool facility throughout the year.

Under the proposal, fitness swim rates for adult residents would be $160 annually, $94 during winter months when the bubble is up and $66 in the summer. Senior citizen residents would be charged $70 during winter and $50 during summer months. Non-resident fees would be $200 for adults and $160 for senior citizens annually.

Also, the Cape Girardeau swim team will be charged an annual fee of $4,000 to use the pool, and a charge of $200 a day would be imposed for day-long swim meets. Half-day meets would be $100.

Jackson said those rates apparently are acceptable to many of the people who participate in those programs.

"Fair's fair, and the people who use the pools are willing to pay for their use," he said. "Everybody was real willing and understanding of the fact that we did need to pay something."