Winter Pool Hours Could Be Lessened

The lap pool at the New Port Richey Recreation and Aquatic Center might be open for far fewer hours this winter if city leaders proceed with a possible cost- savings measure.

For the past couple weeks, city leaders have been considering an idea to close the pool from March to November.  During a budget session on Aug. 13, New Port Richey City Council members indicated they want to only keep the pool open 13 hours a week during those winter months.

Those 13 hours are the same hours that New Port Richey branch of Tampa Bay Aquatics youth swim team could choose to use to train at the pool.

The city currently subsidizes the pool heating cost in the winter, but under this idea, council members want to split the heating costs between the city and the team. It looks like the team will be asked to pay $2,500-$3,000 of the cost to heat the pool.

The pool records extremely low attendance in the winter months, according to numbers from New Port Richey Parks and Recreation director Elaine Smith. The average number of swimmers using the pool simultaneously almost never rose into the double digits this past winter, except when a swim team was training.

Closing the pool entirely during the winter could save the city $5,000 in heating costs and $24,366 in staff costs.

Smith said she raised the idea of seeing if Tampa Bay Aquatics (TBay) would open a lap pool lane to regular swimmers in exchange for the city subsidizing some of the heating costs

Smith said the swim team is amenable to keeping a lane of the pool open to the general public.

However, Smith said the team asked her to relay that while they are open to negotiations about keeping the pool open to the team in the winter, they’re not yet committed.

She said the team asked her to convey that “Council does know that if we don’t swim there, we will most likely not come back.” She said the team might find another pool  to swim at and stay there if they don’t swim in the winter.

The team now pays $8,000 in rent annually, Smith said.

Parents of TBay swim team have expressed concern about the cost of heating the pool.

A team parent did not return a request for comment from Patch.

The city council makes its final decision on pool hours when it approves the budget at the end of September.