Many questions — 05/18/08

May 16, 2008 01:37 pm

— Constructing an Olympic-sized swimming pool and other recreational attractions at the site of the former Gertrude Ramey Children’s Home on Bob McCullough Drive apparently has the full support of Boyd County Judge-Executive William “Bud” Stevens and County Commissioner Marvin Meredith, but for the project to become a reality, it also will need the support of either Commissioner Carl Tolliver or Commissioner David Salisbury.
While we are not necessarily opposed to the pool, we are in total agreement with Salisbury and Tolliver that questions need to be answered before county government dives into the business of operating a swimming pool:
‰ What would it cost not only to construct a recreational complex complete with an Olympic-sized pool, kiddie pool, locker rooms, basketball, tennis and shuffleboard courts and possibly other attractions, but also to operate it? Public pools typically lose money, and it would be naive for the county to think it can build a pool that would operate at a profit or even break even. Even if the costs of constructing the facilities are not factored in, the pool complex is likely to operate in the red.
How much in the red? At this point, that’s a huge unknown, but before going into the business of operating a pool, the fiscal court needs to have some sort of idea of how much it is going to have to subsidize the operation of the pool ... for years to come.
As for the cost of constructing the pool, Stevens proposes using revenue from fees paid by the Big Run Landfill. The county is projecting $750,000 from the landfill in the coming fiscal year, Stevens said. “Over a five-year span we could pay it off from the landfill only,” he said.
Thus, garbage produced by businesses and residents living hundreds of miles from here but being buried in Boyd County will pay for the pool. We suppose that’s one way of turning a negative — the burial of mega-tons of baled waste in our backyard — into a positive, but it’s going to make more than a swimming pool for us to support importing tons a trash into our county.
‰ Do Boyd County residents think a pool complex is the best use of revenue produced by the landfill, or would they prefer the money be spent on other projects? While there are “In Your View” letters on this page supporting the pool, the pool has yet to even be discussed during an open meeting of the Boyd County Fiscal Court.
Before constructing a pool or embarking on any other costly project, the fiscal court needs to listen to what residents think are the greatest needs of the county. Do they really want a pool — or do they think other projects should be given a greater priority? Summer school breaks are now so short that a pool can operate efficiently in only June, July and half of August. The short summers are why some pools that used to operate at a profit are now losing money.
There is a reason why the city of Ashland never rebuilt Southside Pool: The cost of repairing the money-losing pool was deemed too expensive. Just as the fiscal court did earlier this year, the city also turned down an opportunity to buy Breezeland Pool a few years ago. The city continues to operate Dawson Pool at a huge loss each year.
The fiscal court should spend the next few months getting public input on the pool and collecting realistic estimates on the costs of building and operating the complex. Once it does that, Stevens and the three commissioners will have the information they need to determine whether building a pool is a doable project. It’s now too early to tell.