Discussion of fees and finances –

A second hearing/workshop concerning the Piedmont Community Pool will be held by the Piedmont Recreation Commission on Wednesday, February 15, at the City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue, beginning at 7:30pm.  The pool  has been under management of the City of Piedmont Recreation Department since July 1, 2011.

> Click to read more…

Residents assert Post’s pool facts are wrong –

The Piedmont Post’s January 11, 2012 article, “Rood’s tenure as final swim club president,” gets almost all key facts regarding the negotiations between the city and the swim club wrong.  From the beginning, the club agreed to pay all pool expenses, including major maintenance and capital improvements, as it had for 46 years.  In return, it simply asked that the terms of the existing lease be continued. > Click to read more…

Discussion of use changes, fee changes, and finances –

Hearings/workshops concerning the Piedmont pool facility will be held by the Piedmont Recreation Commission on Wednesday, January 18 and Wednesday, February 15, 2012.  Both hearings will be held at the City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont and will begin at 7:30pm. > Click to read more…

Predictions of City management costs of community pool proved overly optimistic

At the Oct. 17 City Council meeting, Recreation Director Mark Delventhal reported on the operation of the Community Pool since its takeover by the City on July 1.  Delventhal cautioned that the staff is unsure the budgeted revenue of $429,250 will be realized.  > Click to read more…

Recreation Commission Dips into City Pool Operation

On Wednesday, September 21, the Recreation Commission  received a report on the City takeover of the community pool operations.  Recreation Director Mark Delventhal reported, “I’m very pleased with our pool team.  It’s been a real challenge.  We had our hiccups, but I’m proud of how it’s gone.”

> Click to read more…

“Users should pick up the tab on the pool. I must confess I was always baffled as to why the city wanted to take on the pool in the first place. Other cities are trying to outsource . . . .  And now we learn that budgetary projections are off, that the city cannot keep the pool going without cash infusions. First the underground lighting fiasco, now this….”*   Astrid Lacitis

“The Piedmont pool is a great resource. This is something that Piedmont needed for a long time, and we should be proud that it now can benefit every member of our community.”*  Teddy King

“The pool always benefited every member of our community. Just because the City now runs the pool hasn’t extended the benefit in any way. . . .”*  Ryan Gilbert

“What actually happens when you increase daily access is that the need for a taxpayer subsidy goes up. . . . The only sense in which the Club was private was that the cost of running the pool was being paid by private, rather than public funds. That is precisely the public/private partnership that other communities are now searching for to avoid unaffordable public subsidies in this tight budget environment.  Piedmont already had it and it had worked for 46 years and it chose to throw it away.”  Jon Sakol

“Maybe it is too easy to walk up and use the pool.”* Dick Hunt, Recreation Commission Chairman

(See more comments on the Piedmont Patch)

Read more comments and community discussion on the pool:

• Tax Review Committee Report:  pool subsidies to cease or be offset
• “Pool Revenues Fall Short“;
• Commentary from Jon Sakol:  “How Piedmont Lost a Free Pool”
• View all PCA pool articles.

Jon Sakol Corrects the Record on Pool Takeover

I don’t want to re-argue whether the club’s lease should have been renewed, but I do think the narrative of what really happened is important.  Otherwise, it will be too easy to forget that, if the city cannot afford to keep the pool open or open full time, it will not be the members of the tax review committee or the city council that will suffer, it will be those who use the pool, who were willing to continue to fund the pool themselves, who will suffer.  > Click to read more…

Despite the lower annual cost offered to former Piedmont Swim Club (PSC) members, 300 did not buy passes that would have allowed them to continue to swim at the facility after City staff took over management.  Piedmont residents purchased 129 annual passes and 130 seasonal passes.  Sales of resident annual passes met expectations, but sales of resident seasonal passes fell short  – only half of the 250 projected.

> Click to read more…

The proposed pool fee schedule has been revised after receipt of public input at the Budget Workshop.  It will be considered on Monday, June 6 by the Piedmont City Council.  The new schedule is intended to provide a revenue model for the pool which relies less on taxpayer subsidies and more on annual and seasonal pass sales.

The level of taxpayer subsidy of the pool is now budgeted at 50% of all operating costs, or $380,000.  This amount does not reflect capital costs, which will be 100% taxpayer funded.  Pool facility improvements of $600,000 are on the list of projects considered annually for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) funding.  (See item 4.)  CIP spending is funded by the Piedmont General Fund.

Although, according to the proposed budget, Piedmont residents will subsidize 50% of pool costs, they will not receive priority in the sale of annual or seasonal passes over non-residents or City employees.  See latest pool fee schedule.