Ballarat Aquatic Centre pool fees to rise as Council backs new 50 metre pool

While backing construction of a new 50 metre indoor pool at the Ballarat Aquatic Centre, Ballarat City Council plans to raise entry fees at the centre and undertake further closures of seasonal outdoor pools.

Under the Ballarat City Council’s draft budget for 2014/15, the cost of a swim at the Ballarat Aquatic Centre will cost 20 cents more while pool carnival hire will rise by $27 at the facility.

In addition, Healthy Kids memberships, which according to the Aquatic Centre website currently start from $8.50 per week, will be $13.20 a week under the new model – an increase of 55%.

Competitive gymnastics programs would rise from between 70 cents to $2.60 per hour, according to level, while individual swimming lessons and school swimming program fees would also lift across the board.

Creche, occasional care, children’s birthday parties, three-year-old kinder, all program memberships, personal training and disability access programs would also rise.

However, Ballarat City Council Chief Executive Anthony Schinck said the $17 million, 50-metre indoor pool currently being built on-site had not affected the proposed new fees.

Schinck told local Faixfax media “these rises reflect a cost-recovery principle. Where fees have risen by more than 4%, it relates to a change in input cost to that particular service.

“The 50-metre pool currently under construction does not figure as an influence within the fee structure.

“The income from fees covers the full operation of the centre including all maintenance and necessary upgrades.”

Ballarat City Council recently agreed to reduce its proposed rates hike for 2014/15 after finding last-minute scope for reduction in insurance costs.

The proposed increases come on top of the Council looking to close the Black Hill swimming pool as part of its aquatic strategy 2014.

If the strategy is approved, the Chisholm Street outdoor pool would shut due to decreasing patronage and the nearby Brown Hill pool expanded instead.

With the closure of the Wendouree pool, it would leave Buninyong, Eureka and the community-managed Brown Hill pool as Ballarat’s only outdoor pools.

In its 2013/14 budget, the council lifted rates by 7.5% as part of its biggest capital works spend, including the construction of the new indoor pool at the Ballarat Aquatic Centre.

Click here to view the Ballarat City Council budget report.

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8th October 2010 - BALLARAT AQUATIC CENTRE TO REOPEN BUT CLUBS WANT 50 METRE POOL