Juneau\u2019s Aquatics Board members are testing the waters with reduced prices in hopes that community members will take the plunge and become loyal users once more.<\/p>\n
From a previous fee chart that offered 184 possible options between the two pools in town \u2014 with each center having varied prices \u2014 the new price plan offers just four pass options for four age groups. Aquatics Board member Max Mertz said prices aside, the universal price plan for the downtown Augustus G. Brown Swimming Pool and the Dimond Park Aquatic Center in the valley should be easier for users to understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goals for the pricing models are to, number one increase the number of users we have,\u201d Mertz said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re after, and we\u2019re only going to increase the pool (membership) if we increase the value.\u201d<\/p>\n
An unlimited annual adult pass at Dimond Park and August Pool is currently set at $744 and $396, respectively. The revised fee for both centers is $261.75.<\/p>\n
Members of the aquatics board presented the new pricing plan to the City and Borough of Juneau Committee of the Whole Monday night. It was the first presentation the Aquatics Board made before the Assembly since board members where appointed in June. The empowered board was tasked with overseeing facility operations, maintenance, development and marketing of Juneau\u2019s two public pools. Juneau residents voted in favor of creating the Aquatics Board during the October 2014 municipal election.<\/p>\n
Although Assembly members seemed pleased with the prospect of low prices, several wondered how revenue could go up with such drastic cuts at a time when usage is low. So far this year, the combined pools have seen 44,684 purchases, with 94 percent of those for single day passes. Only 23 all-access annual passes were purchased this year.<\/p>\n
Assembly member Jesse Kiehl said with such low prices, membership would have to increase by half if they hoped to \u201cbreak even.\u201d With less daily pass options, and some increasing by a few dollars, he asked how they could be sure this new model would produce the results they were looking for.<\/p>\n
Mertz said losses felt on the daily membership side will easily be countered by anticipated annual passes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you do the math, it doesn\u2019t take a lot more annual passes to make up for the potential loss in daily passes,\u201d Mertz said. \u201cThe math is kind of on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the math is also based on several unknowns.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018Suspect\u2019 numbers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Prices changes were made to appeal to user groups based on their past participation. Current trends show that 50 percent of pool users were 18 to 65 years old, while senior citizens only make up 5 percent. Based on what pool administrators see on a daily basis, CBJ Parks and Recreation director Kirk Duncan said he has reason to believe these numbers are wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI have deep suspect over our old point of sale system,\u201d Duncan said of the usage report. \u201cI just really don\u2019t believe the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n With so many plans and different policies for the two pools, it\u2019s difficult to track the information accurately, Duncan stressed. Across the two pools, 44,684 users were accounted for this past year, using any of 184 different pay categories. How many times the same person used a day pass or switched within pay categories is currently too difficult to successfully track.<\/p>\n A newly acquired fingerprint access system should break down that data barrier and give the board more reliable figures to analyze moving forward, Duncan said. The fingerprint system will cost $50,000, with $10,000 annually to maintain, and will be implemented at Juneau\u2019s pools in January and other CBJ Parks and Recreation facilities by mid-February.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just wondering if we all need to (prepare) ourselves for the possibility that maybe you got your numbers a little wrong and we\u2019ll have to pay (more) next year,\u201d Mayor Greg Fisk said, also concerned lower prices won\u2019t solve the revenue problem. It\u2019s a reality Mertz and Duncan said they are prepared to accept if it comes to pass, but first reliable numbers have to present themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now we\u2019re making decision on aquatics based on what we think will work,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cWe need more good data to make fine-tuned decisions and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be doing down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Several other moves are anticipated down the road, according to recent discussions at Aquatics Board finance committee meetings, but no other changes have officially been made outside of the pay scale. What board members are looking at includes decreasing the amount of staff on hand during slower hours and possibly reducing party space rental fees. In the end, Duncan said it\u2019s all about making the pool the place to be in the community.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople got out of the idea of swimming, just like people got out of the idea of using Eaglecrest,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cYou just have to get people back in the habit of going for physical and social (reasons). \u2018Hey, I\u2019ll see you at the pool on Saturday morning,\u2019 that kind of thing. Just getting back into the aquatics culture.\u201d<\/p>\n The price changes will not go into effect until Jan. 4. Until then, comment cards for concerned community members will be available at both swimming locations and comments can also be sent to aquatics@juneau.org. A full list of the new prices is available at www.juneau.org\/parkrec\/DimondPark\/.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or at paula.solis@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Juneau\u2019s Aquatics Board members are testing the waters with reduced prices in hopes that community members will take the plunge and become loyal users once more. From a previous fee chart that offered 184 possible options between the two pools in town \u2014 with each center having varied prices \u2014 the new price plan offers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":5642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}