Tucson city officials are scrambling to keep the city’s 20 public pools open after the parks and recreation department unexpectedly cut 37% of pool hours.
City Manager Michael Ortega said during Tuesday’s Mayor and City Council study session that the department had overspent the previous summer on extended pool hours and program expansions, leading the department to reduce hours this year to make up for the loss. Now, the aquatics program needs $200,000 to make up the difference.
“It’s the wrong direction to go, you know, when we’re the third hottest city in the summers, we have many days over 100,” said Ward 3 council member Kevin Dahl during the meeting.
The city’s public pools were open for 802 hours a week last summer. Dahl said he’d like that to be the standard.
This year, pools will be open from June 1 to July 31 but their operational hours vary, according to the summer schedule.
Dahl said he only learned about the cut after receiving concerned emails from community members. Ward 2 council member Paul Cunningham said he was frustrated by the lack of notice and the department’s decision.
“I want to know how I’m supposed to trust the judgment of the parks department on aquatics when they didn’t inform us of this in the first place,” he said.
Cunningham emphasized that the parks and recreation department is also cutting hours at the Edith Ball Adaptive Recreation Center, the location of the city’s only accessible pool for people with certain disabilities. He said last year the pool had 15,000 visitors.
Cunningham said he’s happy to raise the money but is unsure on whether to trust the department.
“What I’m afraid is going to happen is we’re going to say ‘here’s $200,000’ and they’re going to come back and it’s going to be the same,” he said.
Ortega acknowledged the urgency and said he would try to come back for the next public study session on June 4 with options on how to extend pool hours this summer. He felt confident he’d be able to increase pool time by 29 hours a week in certain pools.
“I think that we can get you as close to where you want to be as we can,” Ortega told the council and mayor.
Pool hours were only part of the discussion over the upcoming year’s tentative budget.
The group also talked about the use of designated funds for additional employee compensation. Ortega recommended the city wait and distribute them as a one-time payment in December due to the city’s precarious financial situation.
Mayor Regina Romero disagreed, saying the focus should be on increasing employees’ base compensation to the market rate.
“I would prefer a much more permanent solution versus the one time, although I do understand that the one-time distribution means something to employees,” she said.
Council members were torn on the issue as they discussed various options ranging from percentage increases to lump sum payments. Cunningham said he prefers the idea of two one-time payments in July and the holiday season but agreed with other council members to wait before making a decision.
“We want to go to the stakeholders a little bit and have some dialogue with our labor groups about what those options are,” he said.
City officials have also allocated $13.1 million for fare-free transit in 2025 and 2026. Still, the budget is tight and leaders still face an impending budget deficit.
While the city forecasts a $529,164 surplus for the 2025 fiscal year, which runs from July 2024 to June 2025, it’s facing a $23.8 million deficit in 2026.
Ortega said the city still runs the risk of having a $1.5 million deficit in 2025 due to a possible $2 million decrease in shared sales tax funds. These tax funds are distributed based on population and the city grew more slowly than anticipated.
“Before we get too focused on that and excited just know that those numbers are still coming in,” Ortega said.
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