79 years of swimming at the city pool
May 14, 2013
By the 1920s, the Village of Bonners Ferry was researching and planning for a public swimming pool. This dream was finally realized in 1934 by a project done by the depression era Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The city pool was built on two lots purchased by the City in 1934 from local residents Bruce Malcolm and Golda & W. W. Carlock for a total of $250.

The Village of Bonners Ferry was not unique as a number of pools were built by the WPA. They can be recognized by their unique size of 30 feet by 90.

What does make the City of Bonners Ferry unique is that we still have a municipal swimming pool.

The number of small towns with pools is small and that number is shrinking. As these old pools continue to age, the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs increase. Chemicals to disinfect and maintain acceptable water quality standards have steadily increased as well as general upkeep.

Most recently, new American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, which took effect January 1 this year, will add additional costs to running the pool.

Our pool budget is about $50,000 per year for utilities, chemicals and lifeguards.

In addition we have invested almost $100,000 in our pool over the past decade.

The largest items were a $54,000 replacement of the floor due to leakage through the old concrete and a $28,000 replacement of the filtering system. One upcoming expense will be the replacement of the heater, estimated at $10,000, that is well past its useful life.

Until this year, the only fees charged to city pool users were to those who took swimming lessons, and which only covered the cost of lessons. The city’s general fund, which essentially is derived from various taxes, has provided the monies to cover the pool's O&M costs.

Like many other communities, the city’s general fund revenues are not keeping up with the request for service and the regulatory requirements.

The city strongly believes that the pool provides a great recreational opportunity to the community and, more importantly, is essential for teaching the children of our community to swim.

Over 400 children take swimming lessons each year.

The city wants all to enjoy this asset. However, please also be mindful that the pool does come with costs that typically increase over time. As a result, the city is establishing a new pool user fee structure to help cover the costs to keep the pool open.

This issue is not uncommon in the municipal pool arena and no municipality could charge its pool users fees that would cover the true cost to keep them open. This year the city is charging a nominal fee for swimming to help offset the cost of running the pool. The charge is one dollar per day or a season pass, included with swimming lessons or available for $5 for city residents and $10 for people residing outside of the city.

So starting June 10, enjoy this treasure of the city swimming pool, make sure our young people know how to swim, and be proud that we have been able to operate this facility for 79 years and counting.