Pool revenues, expenses get city attention
Everything from the price of a candy bar at the concession stand to the cost of admission to the rate for renting the pool for a private party is under the microscope as city officials look for ways to narrow the gap between expenses and revenues at the Greencastle Aquatic Center.
Looking at a report that shows a $65,344 deficit between revenues and expenses at the city pool this year, the City Council listened to Park Director Rod Weinschenk’s ideas for closing that gap during the November Council meeting.
After working with City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar and a Park Board subcommittee on the issue, Weinschenk told the Council, he’s “not prepared to say this is how much we’re going to charge for a candy bar but I can give you some points of discussion the Park Board will be talking about in the next month or two.”
There are several issues at play that have affected city pool attendance and operations in recent years.
First of all, the school calendar has forced shrinkage upon the swim season, which once routinely went from Memorial Day through Labor Day but now goes only Memorial Day through the first week of August. Staying open beyond that has become problematic because the lifeguards are high school students, mostly athletically involved high schoolers whose sports seasons will have started and will negate them working once school begins.
Another issue appears to be the “unintended consequence,” as Councilman Dave Murray put it, of the addition of the Bob York Splashpark. With that free-admission facility in full operation this year, the pool saw a decline in attendance of 4,000 visitors. Of course, that entire total cannot be attributed to the splashpark but it certainly appears to be more than a coincidence.
Weinschenk noted that prior to the splashpark opening, mom and dad might take a two-year-old to the pool, and while the toddler would be admitted free, mom and dad would pay $5 each and maybe a brother and sister older than five as well. So the family might pay $10 to $20 to come to the pool, now they are all going to the splash park to cool off for free.
Also likely affecting city pool attendance is the availability of other options in the area, such as the indoor facility at Plainfield or the new lazy river set-up at Lebanon.
And then again, the pool may just not be as cool as it once was.
“What I wish,” Weinschenk said, “I could do is take away the cellphones the kids have today. Only for the reason why ... 10 ... 20 ... 30 years ago the swimming pool was the place to go during the summer if Johnny wanted to be with his friends or Jane wanted to see her friends. But with the ability of the cellphone right now, they can talk, they can see them, they can be with their friends 24 hours a day at any time during the day if they like.”
While Weinschenk knows he can’t change society, he hopes to find a niche that might be more interesting than endlessly staring at a cellphone screen.
“We need to find that one thing that’s going to make the aquatic center the place to be again,” he told the City Council.
Somewhere down the road, he said, the pool could add new amenities that might draw more people and substantiate an increase in the $5 daily admission price.
“For example,” the park director said, “maybe another water slide, a drop slide. Maybe we could add a diving board.
“Right now, looking at our five-year master plan, what I’d like to see down the road would be a lazy river. But that’s $2 million as an estimate from Spear Corp.”
And while park officials have been in agreement on not wanting to increase the $5 daily admission fee, Weinschenk notes there is “some room for discussion in regard to pool passes, pool rentals and the special birthday parties you can have at the swimming pool. We want to look at the expenses those cost us and see if our revenues are in fact meeting those.”
At a recent Park Board meeting, Councilman Steve Fields suggested Weinschenk determine how much it costs per hour to operate the pool, considering all factors -- water, electricity, chemicals, employees, all overhead -- to set a better rate for pool party rentals. The prevailing notion of the Park Board is that the pool was essentially losing money or breaking even on pool rentals, when it should be making money with such an interesting amenity to offer.
The average daily cost of running the pool, Weinschenk said, is $1,439.99. Fields said that figure should be divided to determine a “for-profit rental” charge for pool rental beginning next summer.
City Council President Adam Cohen looked at another number, the $113,759 in pool operations expenses, and suggested the pool would need approximately 250 people per day through the door to operate the pool efficiently.
“If you’re operating it at a profit,” Weinschenk commented.
“I‘m just talking about breaking even,” Cohen responded.
“Realistically,” Mayor Bill Dory interjected, “we’re not going to break even.”
Cohen asked Weinschenk what the average daily attendance was this summer.
“About 100,” he said. “Last summer was about 100.”
So with expenses at the pool totaling $140,901 (including consessions costs) and revenues at $75,557 this summer, a $65,344 deficit was created, about twice what most city officials recall in the past.
“I just remember hearing in the past we were losing amounts like $30,000 or $35,000 a year,” said City Attorney Laurie Hardwick, who is serving in her third mayoral administration. “We’ve traditionally lost that.”
“That depends on what you mean by lost,” Weinschenk responded, “because traditionally it’s been subsidized by property tax dollars. This year I think it’s just a little larger.”
“My point is it’s double what I remember,” Hardwick added.
Weinschenk told the Council “these were all points of discussion we’ve come up with over the last month and a half because we want to release our spring brochure early with these prices in it, so the Park Board will be discussing it at our December meeting and probably again in January.”
Cohen assured Weinschenk that he is supportive of the pool and stressed that “the park is value added to our city.”
“The pool is a tax-supported service,” Weinschenk observed, agreeing it would never make a profit or likely even come close.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not a valuable commodity.
Clerk-Treasurer Dunbar said she’d like to see the pool “become a destination point because we get people in for a day but it would be nice to be able to bring families in for a whole day and have them stay and come downtown. So I think the pool eventually could become a really big destination point which could even help to revitalize that side of town.”
Cohen nodded in agreement.
“You don’t have to argue too much with me for a pool,” the DePauw University swim coach said. “And lazy rivers? All about ‘em.”
Mayor Dory closed the discussion by saying he and Weinschenk are open to suggestions.
“Personally I don’t believe it’s going to be one thing (to turn things around),” he said, “but a number of things over the next few years.”