North Las Vegas raises fees to save aquatics programs

By Paul Takahashi

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 | 10 p.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council approved an aquatics fee increase during a special session Wednesday that will allow city pools and swimming programs to remain operational.

Funding for the city’s four pools — Hartke, Silver Mesa, Petitti and Walker — have been “decimated” over the last several years, causing the city to close Petitti and Hartke last year, said the city’s parks and recreation director, Michael Henley.

During the most recent budget cuts, the general fund aquatic budget was slashed by more than 50 percent, the remaining balance of which could only fund facility maintenance and operation.

Without the fee increase, all the pools would have closed and no aquatics programs would have been offered this summer, Henley said.

“Municipal swimming pools and programs are heavily subsidized because of its high cost to operate them,” Henley said. “Through the rate increase, we can continue these items.” Under his recommendations, fees for some aquatics programs, such as lifeguard training, will increase slightly from $100 to $105, but for others, such as the swim team, will more than double, from $40 to $100.

The new fees will not cover all classroom materials included in the past and will not stop class sizes from increasing. The fee increase will also not allow the city to reopen Hartke and Petitti pools.

“It’s a big jump, but this is a very labor intensive program,” Henley said. “We needed to bridge that (funding) gap.”

Still uncertain is the fate of the open swim program, which allows residents unstructured use of the pools. Henley said he plans to come back to the City Council in a month with a proposal for funding that program.

Henley is considering providing one four-hour session a week for nine weeks at the Hartke and Silver Mesa pools. There may be a $1 charge at Hartke, he said.

Last year, there were 1,682 people registered for the city’s aquatics programs and more than 34,800 residents participated in the open swim program.