Moana Pool $5 lane fee mooted

Swimming clubs and other groups booking lanes at Moana Pool could soon have to pay more, as the Dunedin City Council seeks ways to boost income while easing overcrowding at the facility.

Council staff, responding to requests for cost-saving or revenue-generating initiatives, have recommended groups pay a $5-per-hour fee for each lane booked at Moana Pool.

The move would generate about $45,000 a year while promoting a more efficient use of the pool by groups, helping free up lane space for the general public, a council staff report said.

The suggestion came as the number of groups using the pool, and complaints about overcrowding, mounted.

The new lane charge would free up space at Moana Pool by encouraging groups to use only the lanes they needed, but would still be lower than lane charges at most other pools in major centres, the report said.

The proposal would be considered at next week's 2012-13 pre-draft budget meetings and, if accepted, would be implemented in the 2013-14 financial year's budget, beginning on July 1 next year.

Councillors would also consider a proposal from council staff to revert to a later opening of the St Clair salt water pool at Labour Weekend.

The council last year trialled opening it three weeks earlier, after a petition by the Friends of St Clair community group, signed by 900 people.

The move cost the council an extra $15,000 in operating costs, meaning an average of 250 swimmers a day needed to use the pool to make the move "viable", the report said.

However, visitor numbers during October averaged 161 people per day, compared with 371 per day during December, with the lower number blamed on less favourable weather in October, the report said.

The numbers confirmed earlier opening was not viable, and it was recommended the change be abandoned, the report said.