Pool costs?

I am the treasurer of a summer swim club. We operate from Memorial Day to Labor Day, about 14 weeks a year. Our budget is $115,000 per year. Insurance is about $10,000, pool maintenance and repairs are $30,000, guard salaries are $20,000 with an additional $8,000 for the manager and assistant manager, about $4,000 goes to run the kids swim team, almost $10,000 in utilities (we are not a heated pool), $11,500 in various taxes. The rest in a bunch of smaller categories. Its an expensive operation. We are financially healthy with 325 member families. I realize outdoor pool operations are different, but this might give you some ideas

A close friend of mine is the aquatics directior for a huge Y. She says that no matter how many programs they run, the pool always throws a deficit. She states ongoing costs (chemicals, utilities, lifeguards) are very, very high. You also have to factor in liability costs. The cost effective alternative is the swimming hole in the creek.

Probably the items that drive up costs the most in any operating business is liability insurance and salaries. In this litigious-crazy society, the premiums for liability insurance have gone out of sight. We now have to protect everyone from womb to the tomb these days as many people don't want to take responsibility for their actions. My 2 cents' worth.

OKay everything costs, for the most part chemicals are probably one of the cheapest items on my budget. My monthly utilities (gas to heat the pool, electricity and water) and staffing costs are the biggest, depending on the weather and programs I am conducting those costs can be around $10, 000 per month each (roughly 1/4 million per year for staff and utilities) that is just to keep things running - then add in replacement of the big items in a few years, new pump, filter tank, regrout the pool, underwater lights and you can see why running a pool can be very expensive. You have to be really creative and know your market to make things be cost effective. I used to work at an indoor waterpark (which also had a lap pool and swim teams) the first couple of years we made money, sure it was a modest few thousand profit compared to the 1.5 million dollar operating budget - no new attractions were added and in a few years people lost intrest and things began to break from wear and tear, after about 6 years when I left the Aquatic Park was recovering about 80% of its cost - the national average for swimm ing facilities is about 50% - so I really don't think a swimming pool is ever going to be truely cost effective without throwing in some of the thrill value.

you all have probably heard me say that our indoor pool is under renovation. (according to the sign in the locker room at the outdoor pool it will be finished and openned for business 12/1 :p ) The only reason it is being renovated is because someone gave the money for the work. Rumor has it that it is all the work is costing $500,000. While I don't agree with some of what has been done (like painting the beautiful, aged wood, catheral ceiling WHITE) I can believe that the renovation costs that much. The pool is 6 lanes, 25 meters, 12 feet at the deepest competition pool. They have put in new windows on the street side, retiled all the walls, redone the deck surface, pool office, pool bathroom and pump room, redesigned and created a huge new hot tub, and are re doing the surface of the inside of the pool. It also got a new roof, new exhaust fans and some more skylights were added. I hope they also gave us some new over head lights. Those were needed too. A while back I started a thread asking about how shallow a pool could be and still be safe for diving from blocks because the plans were to make it 6 feet deep. Many folks answered back. I took that information and gave it to all the swimmers I knew and they passed it on to the swimmers they knew. We wrote letters asking that the depth be left at 12 ft. I guess the letters and the fact that they wouldn't be able to hold scuba lessons (a real money making class) any more changed their minds because it is being left at 12 ft. If I didn't say it then, I want to say it now... thanks for your input, without it I might be swimming in a six foot pool!

Our HS investigate putting in a pool. It was found that they could afford the cost of putting in a pool, but the ongoing cost of maintaining a pool caused the project to be nixed. They went out and talked to other HS' with pools and found all of them ran in the red for maintain their pools.