10/12/2008

By DAVID CLOUSTON

Salina Journal

To borrow a classic movie line -- Build it, and they will come.

That is the thinking of city of Salina officials who see a proposed $12.5 million aquatic park as a regional attraction that could draw in pool patrons who have forsaken Salina in recent years for newer pool complexes in other central Kansas cities.

Supporters argue that the cost is a smaller burden on the community, as visitors who shop, eat and stay overnight in the city support the project with their sales taxes.

Nonsense, critics charge. Adding theme park-style features is driving up the cost of aquatic centers, when cities could be serving their own citizens better and less expensively with multiple neighborhood pools.

Salina officials say a new pool is needed, as the city continues to nurse along its 50-year-old pool that has been plagued for years by leaks and a dearth of modern amenities.

Thus, the city is taking a second crack at passing a sales tax increase. Voters defeated a quarter-cent sales tax in 2000 to build a $5.5 million aquatic center. The defeat, 5,501 votes against to 4,350 in favor, remains the only sales tax question Salina voters have defeated of the five put to a vote since 1990.

Some helpful information

As voters prepare to head to the polls this Nov. 4, there will be many factors to consider concerning the proposed pool project. Here's a guide and some information.

Q: What are we voting on?

A 0.40 percent sales tax. A portion of that (0.15 percent) would be used to pay for the estimated $12.5 million aquatic park. The remaining 0.25 percent is a renewal of the quarter-cent sales tax that's set to expire in 2010. If approved, the total city sales tax would change from 7.05 percent to 7.2 percent.

On a $100 purchase, the sales tax increase for the pool would mean an increase of 15 cents.

The 0.40 percent sales tax would expire in 10 years, but it could be renewed by voters before that expiration.

Since the 0.25 percent tax was adopted by voters in 2004, more than $10.6 million of nonproperty tax support has benefited Salina. That includes more than $3 million worth of street and road projects, and more than $1.6 million of equipment for the city. Sales tax money has also gone toward economic development, to help Salina employers add jobs.

The aquatic park would be built south of the Bicentennial Center on a land where the former Roosevelt-Lincoln Junior High School football field and track is located. The pool design includes multiple slides, a lazy river ride, zero-depth beach-style entry, wave pool, water obstacle course, spray and play fountains and a 25-yard lap pool.

"Taking care of our own is obviously priority No. 1 when it comes to designing facilities," said Steve Snyder, director of parks and recreation for the city of Salina. Yet, "To maintain the interest of our citizens and keep them coming back, you need premier attractions that other communities don't have, that keeps them here longer and keeps them coming back more often."

The city can afford to add such features as a wave pool and multiple slides if it targets its dollars at a single facility, Snyder said.

Q: How much of the sales tax for the pool would be borne by Salina residents?

The best estimate is about 68 percent, based on "pull factor" figures compiled by the Kansas Department of Revenue. A city's pull factor reflects the ratio of sales tax that is generated by city residents, versus what it "pulls" in from visitors -- which, in Salina's case, is 32.6 percent, said Rod Franz, the city's finance director.

Q: Would the sales tax, plus the amount of revenue projected to be collected from daily operations, enable the city to break even on operating the new pool?

No. "The sales tax (the 0.15 portion) would, if we chose to use all the revenue generated from that," Snyder said. Instead, he prefers to use a portion of the revenue to create a maintenance and equipment replacement fund. That way a pump that fails can be replaced from the fund instead of from the operations budget or the city's capital improvement fund.

Small town, big features

In WaKeeney, 30 miles west of Hays, the city of 1,700 residents replaced its aging pool a year ago with a new aquatic center at a cost of $1.8 million. With a little more than 5,000 surface feet of water, the complex has a zero-depth entry, spray features, sunshades on the pool deck, a 1-meter diving board, a large slide, a toddler slide, a 25-yard lap pool and its most unique feature -- a dump bucket -- an overhead tipping bucket that drenches the swimmers below.

It's all in one body of water. And it takes six lifeguards plus a manager, on one shift, to operate. The city employs about 14 lifeguards total.

"We felt we had to have some features. We couldn't build just another box pool," said Hardy Howard, WaKeeney city administrator. "Also, being on the Interstate, we figured we would draw some travelers, and we have."

He said the pool averages 120 people a day.

Howard said the new pool loses less money than their old pool. Still, he estimates the city will subsidize its pool operation with as much as $20,000. The pool this season generated about $26,000 in revenue.

Salina, meanwhile, spends about $85,000 a year to subsidize the current municipal pool, Snyder said. City officials expect that the subsidy for the proposed pool complex would be in that range. The $12.5 million aquatic park likely would employ at least 40 workers, Snyder said.

If Salina chose to build multiple neighborhood pools closer to 5,000 surface feet in size -- the proposed park would have about 26,000 surface feet of water -- there would be some benefits, notably children and families in some areas could walk or ride their bikes to the pool.

On the other hand, Snyder said, there are greater costs associated with multiple filter buildings, multiple bathhouses and office space.

"And you have to ask, do you get the range of features that you would with one central location?" he asked.

"To maintain the interest of our citizens and keep them coming back, you need premier attractions that other communities don't have, that keeps them there longer, and keeps them coming back more often," Snyder said.

Those premier features, such as the wave pool, are more complicated.

"Where we have two pumps in our existing pool, the number is going to be closer to 10 or 12 for the facility we have proposed," he said. A pump's lifespan is about 10 years. "That's why the maintenance fund is critical -- important, anyway, to replace those."

They're not self-sustaining

As more communities build large aquatic parks, Gary Meagher frets about the price of fuel.

"As more of these pools get built, you reach a saturation and people may not be as willing to drive," said Meagher, McPherson city administrator.

The architect of the Hays Aquatic Park, Sullivan Palmer Architects of Lenexa, also was hired for the McPherson Water Park, which opened in 2003. Officials in both cities were told the parks would be self-sustaining.

That assessment hasn't come true.

"The consultant indicated we would be around 800 by now on our daily attendance," Meagher said. "We're at about 600, we're not quite there yet."

Hays' aquatic park, which opened in June 2000, saw attendance range from about 84,000 to 86,000 a season its first two years. In 2004, those numbers fell to 60,000 to 70,000, said Joe Spangler, aquatics and wellness director for the city of Hays.

He said last year season attendance fell to its lowest level yet, about 54,000 people. The aquatic center's daily admission is $3 for those ages 3 and up.

"We don't make money, never have, never will," said Spangler, who said the subsidy for the facility runs about $118,000 altogether.

For 2009, McPherson is budgeting about $180,000 to subsidize its pool complex. Meagher said the biggest cost has been staffing; it takes a staff of 90 to 100 people to operate.

"Most people want additional (water) features," such as slides and a lazy river inner tube ride, he said. "I think the public has received the water park pretty well."

Gardner pool makes money

If you want to find a city where an aquatic park is bringing in revenue, head to Gardner, a suburb of affluent Johnson County, located four miles south of Olathe.

Gardner was losing about $60,000 a year before it expanded its existing pool with a fully equipped aquatic park two years ago.

The new attractions -- zero depth entry, slides, a 450-foot lazy river, spray areas -- have boosted attendance in those two years by more than 100,000 people each season, said Jeff Stewart, the city's parks and recreation director.

"To put that in perspective, each of the last two seasons, we've had more people enter the facility than in the five seasons prior to those two, combined," he said.

The facility was last renovated in 1989, and the expansion cost about $4 million. The facility had a traditional 25-yard lap pool with two 1-meter diving boards.

Daily admission to the pool for those ages 4 to 64 is $5 a person. For those 3 and under, or 65 and older, there is no charge. The boost in attendance has created about a $40,000 yearly profit for the city, Stewart said.

"It was a facility that was desired and provided jobs for the youth of our community. It's kind of a win-win," he said.

But to attract good-sized crowds season after season, Mike Lueck believes cities have to think progressively with their aquatic parks.

Can't stop improvements

Every city wants more bells and whistles than the neighboring city, but there's no denying that the shine of a new facility dulls somewhat over time, said Lueck, director of parks and facility services for the city of Hutchinson.

"Most (cities) say we had a great first year, we were successful -- and the thinking process stops at that point," Lueck said.

There's less thought given to keeping the facility fresh, by adding or changing features, as other businesses routinely do to keep customers coming back, he said.

"Pick a mall, pick a store, pick a restaurant. That's what happens in our field, as well," said Lueck, who formerly worked in the St. Louis metro area and was involved with three aquatic complexes there.

As attendance starts to fall in response to a facility's age -- Lueck puts the plateau at about five years -- he said cities can stem the loss by increasing their specialized programming to draw people in. Swimming lessons, water aerobics, diving lessons -- all are popular activities, he said.

Is it worth the expense?

A big body of water never pays for itself; still it's an important feature for a city concerned about quality-of-life issues for its residents, and also attracting workers and business managers for higher-paying jobs, he said.

"The question becomes, do the 50,000 residents in Salina and the 40,000 residents in Hutch think it's important to their quality of life? Not every community says yes, and some say yes in a bigger fashion than others," Lueck said.

The subsidy for Hutchinson's Salt City Splash aquatic park is running about $35,000 a year, he said. Its total water surface area of about 20,303 feet makes it slightly smaller than Salina's proposed complex. The Splash, which cost $3.5 million to build in 2000, was built without a $1.5-million lazy river that was part of the original concept.

Some leaders regretted that decision because such a feature appeals to both young and older park patrons, and is generally thought to be one of the most popular features of modern parks.

The Hutch facility is free for those under 3, $1.50 for ages 3 to 7, and up to $4 for those 18 and older. Recent attendance at the facility has fallen from 22,200 people in 2005 to 16,336 people in 2007.

"At the time this facility was built, this was the only one in this area. As more and more of these were added, and with the cost of gas going up -- our numbers for 2008 (not fully tabulated) seem up some from last year. Some of that may be from people not driving as far to spend their dollars," Lueck said.

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.