Clutha residents will soon be asked to help the Clutha District Council resolve tough questions about the future of the district's swimming pools.
Feedback will be sought before the council reviews its long-term council community plan (LTCCP) - a document which outlines what it intends to do over the next decade.
In the latest council newsletter to ratepayers, council chief executive Charles Hakkaart raises the issue of the sustainability of swimming pools as the council considers if it should continue owning and operating the facilities.
The number of people using the pools has been dropping for the past five years and many of those facilities will soon require significant extra funding.
Mr Hakkaart said there were several reasons for the drop in patronage, including better-equipped pools in nearby Gore and Dunedin, the population decline and fewer children taking part in recreational activities.
This financial year the council has budgeted spending $616,000 on its four main pools at Balclutha, Kaitangata, Lawrence and Milton.
About 70% of this money comes from rates, 12% from pool charges and the rest from reserves.
Over the next decade, the council's LTCCP, as it stands now, has set aside more than $2 million for improvements and maintenance upgrades at those four main pools, with another $330,000 in extras like hydro slides, spa pools and pool heating costs.
"All this costs money and, as you can see, a lot of it. This is where the question of sustainability comes in."
He said the situation left the council and its ratepayers with some questions that needed answering:
•If the council does not carry out the needed renewals, how much longer would the pools last before they became unsafe and needed to close?
• If the pools are not improved to "modern standards expectations", will patronage continue to fall, increasing the cost to ratepayers and how long could that situation continue?
•Can the district afford not to have modern, functioning swimming pools?
Not having swimming pools could mean: the district would be less able to attract and retain people; health ramifications because residents would be less able to exercise; young people would not be able to learn to swim in safety; and people might instead swim in unsafe rivers.
