[UPDATE] New Sign at the Lake Worth Municipal Pool

UPDATE: For all of you out there who think everything is just wonderful/blissful at the Lake Worth Municipal Pool your advised to not follow any of my blog posts about the pool for the next several days. I've come across quite a lot of information and it's going to take a while to go through it all. 

It's not a pretty picture.

The revenue numbers are terrible and so are the attendance numbers. Some believe that adding more convenient hours for the public is the answer and there may be some truth to that. However, with added hours comes additional expenses: lifeguards, support staff, and more maintenance. For instance, how much money was spent in chemicals to keep the pool operating for 29 hours a week? Almost $20,000:

This is a partial image of the graph showing how the $20,000 in chemicals/equipment was itemized.

And then there is the million dollar question: why isn't the public in the City supporting the pool? It used to have broad support in the community but then something happened. Did the public lose interest when a previous city commission shut down the pool for all those months back in 2010? Many who used the pool back then, the regular swimmers, likely found other things to do for exercise or maybe found another pool facility:

If you're interested in learning more about this situation with the municipal pool check back here to this blog over the next several days. If your in the "everything's just fine" group then don't.

[Below is a blog post from yesterday (10/5) on one idea to increase revenue and attendance at the facility:]

According to this sign, just to the right of the cashier's window, you can now buy a twenty-visit pool pass. For Lake Worth residents, the new pass will be $60. So you can think of it as an additional dollar off per visit (the regular resident rate is $4), or a total of five (5) free visits. If anything, it will help offset the cost of parking. Non-residents can get the same sort of twenty-visit pass, but must pay $75. That equates to $3.75 per visit and is a more substantial discount than the one for residents. If you pay by the visit, the non-resident rate is $5. There are similar savings with the children's (17 years old and younger) pass.

If you go the pool regularly this makes some sense. However, if the city is concerned about the revenue coming from the pool, I am not sure this helps a great deal. If most of the people that will take advantage of this opportunity are current and frequent pool users, then the city will bring in less money. I think what would really help the situation is to offer additional or different hours that cater to those who work a typical Monday through Friday, daytime work schedule.

But it's good to see that the City and staff are working through various ideas to plug the hole in the pool's operating deficit.