If you charge $8, they won’t come

When Gilley Pool opens for the season tomorrow, kids better bring more than a towel and sunscreen. They better bring their wallets after admission was raised to $8 for every adult who lives outside McMinnville city limits.

What this tells me is the city of McMinnville does a poor job of hiding its anger.

Just weeks after the county rejected the city’s offer to share the cost of indoor pool construction, the city showed everyone who is the boss. The pool admission price for non-city residents was raised by $3 to the exorbitant amount of $8 for men, women and children.

In case you’re wondering, the city considers everyone from 6 to 54 an adult, meaning my first-grader who still sleeps with a night light and believes in the Tooth Fairy is a paying adult. Fortunately, my 3-year-old, who is now fully potty trained, isn’t forced to pay adult admission.

I could go on for paragraphs about how absurd this $8 entry fee is, but everyone knows full well it’s absurd ‘ including city leaders.

This is nothing more than immediate retaliation for the county’s decision not to help with indoor pool funding. There’s nothing like grown men (and women) taking their frustration out on little kids because it’s the kids who will suffer.

As an adult, I don’t jump up and down at the chance to visit Gilley Pool, but my two boys do. And I can say with absolute certainty they will see their days at that pool drastically reduced with an $8 entry fee.

This is not only going to hurt kids, it’s ultimately going to hurt the city. Here are some rough calculations which may, or may not, turn out to be accurate.

Let’s say 1,000 non-city residents would visit the pool each week for the previous $5 entry fee. That’s $5,000 per week. If those folks are like me (and I’m not suggesting anyone is), they’ll easily spend $4 to $5 at the concession stand too.

Using the low $4 figure multiplied by 1,000, that’s another $4,000 for a grand total of $9,000 per week between gate receipts and concession stand sales.

Now let’s use revised attendance figures under the $8 rate. Since my family has already decided to reduce pool visits from two per week to one per week, I’m going to assume other families might do the same.

That leaves 500 non-city residents visiting the pool each week for $4,000 in gate revenue. If those 500 people still spend $4 at the concession stand, that adds another $2,000 for a total of $6,000 per week under the new fee structure.

If those rough figures are anywhere close to being accurate, the pool will lose about $3,000 per week and some $30,000 this year. And as an added bonus, fewer kids get to swim.

Speaking completely candidly, the city has done a great disservice to this community. Thousands of children have just seen their summer recreational opportunities diminish because of a massive admission fee increase.

Personally, I think few things are as important as parks and recreation. It’s hard to be happy with yourself if you have nagging health issues or are forced into a sedentary lifestyle due to years of inactivity.

Getting active early in life ‘ like swimming at the pool ‘ is one way to get kids away from the TV and into developing positive habits. But those positive habits come with a hefty pricetag if you’re talking about kids who hope to visit Gilley Pool and who live outside the city limits.

At least all of this has taught us the city’s mode of operation. If city officials are mad at the county and want to get even, they’ll take it out on the kids.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.