City May Ask For Tax Increase For Pool

WAITSBURG - As sum­mer draws to a close, the city of Waitsburg is contemplat­ing how it can alleviate the cost burden of operating the city pool every summer.

City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said at the last city council meeting that the city is looking into finding other options to fund the pool - he even mentioned raising property taxes to do so.

At the meeting Hinchliffe said the city could ask the voters to approve a small increase in local sales tax to generate money to operate the pool. And some think it's a good idea.

"We are going to look at it," Mayor Walt Gobel said.

It costs about $20,000 to operate the pool each sum­mer, which Gobel said is a good-sized chunk of tax­payer money.

The city council could it­self approve a smaller tax in­crease on its own, but Gobel said he would like any tax to go before the voters.

The city council had pre­viously talked about opening and running a concessions stand near the pool to gen­erate some extra income because ticket sales alone do not boost the pool fund enough.

Gobel said the city is re­ally scrutinizing the budget and looking at ways to make reductions because of the poor economy and because the city wants to cut back and save more money.

However, not everyone is on board with the idea of tax­ing the community to keep the pool open.

"I'm not in favor of in­creasing the sales tax," said Waitsburg City Councilman KC Kuykendall.

Kuykendall said he be­lieves the city can put its thinking cap on and come up with some creative ways to provide ample funding for the pool.

He said the concessions stand would provide a small boost in funding, but not enough to cover all costs.

"(A concessions stand) would enhance the usability of the facility to the commu­nity," he said.

Kuykendall said he would like to have more conversa­tions with the council over the budget and look closely at how the city can keep the pool open next summer as well. He doesn't want his lack of support for increas­ing the sales tax to come across as lack of support for the pool.

"The pool as a communi­ty asset is crucial," Kuykend­all said. "We cannot afford to not have that. We just need to keep that asset in shape and open."

Before the council makes any decisions, Councilman Scott Nettles said every aspect of the pool budget needs to be scrutinized be­fore asking the taxpayers for money. He said it doesn't matter whether he supports a tax increase to pay for the pool. It only matters what the community wants.

Nettles said the city needs to look into every measure of generating funding and cut­ting costs except for closing the pool and further limiting its hours of operation.

He suggested asking the community first if any­one could donate to lessen the burden on the city, as Charles Smith did and the Hevel Family does. And if the city still comes up short, he wants the community to decide.

"Ask the folks what they want to do," Nettles said. "What we want is second­ary."