Our awesome new Henry Moses Aquatic Center, with it’s wave machine, raging river, and water slides, is the best public pool in the area by far. However, many residents have complained that it is too costly to visit, or that summer lines are ridiculously long and the pool fills up before they are admitted. The price is almost prohibitive for King County residents, at $12 per adult for entry.

I have suggested that we consider cutting the cost of entry in half, cut the session lengths in half, and double the number of sessions from two to four each day. In other words, an adult in Renton who currently pays $6 to get into a half-day session, would instead pay $3 to get into a two-hour session. In addition to cutting the price in half, this would allow twice as many people to enjoy the pool each day, thus reducing or even eliminating the line that forms as people queue up to get into the morning or afternoon session.

The only appearant downside of this change appears to be that it could work the pool staff a little harder, as the pool will likely be at capacity through most of the day on our most beautiful summer days. This is because during a four hour session, the pool starts to empty after an hour or two since very few Northwesterners can/should stay in the sun for much longer than that, and swimming is tiresome excercise. As the crowds thin, the staff have a little less work keeping track of everybody.

If necessary we could increase staffing by a small amount to compensate by just charging a few cents more than one-half the current entry fee (cut the fee from $6 to $3.25, for instance). In addition, by reducing the long lines outside the pool, we could eliminate staff needed for security, confusion, and complaints related to the 90 minute lines outside the pool.

This issue requires attentions soon; while it seems strange to think about this on a snowy November day, the spring/summer rate schedule is actually being decided by council now and in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the Mayor’s office is recommending that the session arrangement remain as-is and that the pool entrance fee actually be increased by another dollar for everyone in 2007! ($7 for Renton adults, $13 for King county adults) I feel this is getting too pricey for Renton residents, who have already paid $5,000,000 in tax money just to have the pool built. And it is disheartening for Renton-area King County residents, who can feel Renton’s cold shoulder nudging them away with such pricing.

I would like to see the price cut almost in half, and I think we could do it without impacting our budget.