Rainbow Road Pool fees — so what’s the money for?

Q: I want to know how my $5 gets spent when I pay to go for a swim at the Rainbow Road Pool. I go swimming at other pools on the big island that also cost five dollars but they seem to have so much more . . . slides, diving boards, a gym, etc. Maybe we just don’t have enough people using our pool?
— Ray Gouchie, Salt Spring Island

A: Swimmers, floaters and cannonballers alike, the general admission you plunk down at the pool desk goes towards the following: pool operating costs (e.g. heating, building maintenance) and pool staff wages. That’s according to Kees Ruurs, manager of the Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission.

As far as the actual per cent breakdown (of, say, what a $5 adult admission specifically goes towards) PARC does not have these figures because 80 per cent of pool costs are paid through Recreation Excellence in Surrey, B.C., which is contracted by PARC to manage the pool.

It costs $600,000 per year to operate the pool, according to Ruurs. Admission revenues bring in close to $200,000, so the pool recovers only 30 per cent of its costs via the pool user.

Pool manager Jim Raddysh says it’s normal for a pool to recover between 25-30 per cent of its costs through admission fees, so that is a clue to us, he says, that our pool is well attended and not underused.

In fact, 48% of SSI households have one or more people who have used the Rainbow Road Pool in the past year, according to a recent PARC-commissioned survey.

Raddysh notes that he is legally required to have at least two staff on at all times, so trimming down its current staff of seven is not an option for cutting costs.

In addition to swimmers bearing the burden of pool costs, of interest is that for every $5 you pay to go for a swim, the community (through taxes) pays another $10.

Here is Ruurs’ response to your comment about the vast and whimsical water facilities offered by other pools on “the big island:”

You stated that some other pools have a slide, diving boards and a gym. That is correct, many of the aquatic centres or recreation centres in larger communities have more and different components or facilities in their pool or as part of the larger complex.

Having said that, I can also tell you that plans are being made to fundraise for additional components to be added to our swimming pool here on Salt Spring. You will be hearing more about those plans in the months ahead.

Anyone wishing to have their say on what “expansions” the pool could use can leave comments at the pool front desk or at the PARC office at 145 Vesuvius Bay Road.