BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This week

OGDENSBURG — Ogdensburg City Council will not charge for the pool this summer.

Public donations have allowed the city to operate the pool for the past few years without charging, but this year the city will cover the cost.

The city typically budgets about $6,000 to operate the pool.

On March 14 council discussed rates for the pool for the upcoming year, but ultimately decided not to charge residents.

City Manager Stephen Jellie said the city pool offers a recreational opportunity for people who don’t have many other options.

“The revenue source that we derive for this is not significant,” he said. “In a tight budget year whether we charge fees for the pool or not is not going to make or break the budget.”

City Planner Andrea Smith said the pool is open five days a week for approximately 10 weeks. She said that the city pool rates were slightly lower than other similar operations, though not by much.

Deputy Mayor Steve Fisher asked if the American Rescue Plan Act funding could be used for it. He said that the city has been using it to help those in need and said he’d like to see some of the funding benefit children.

He also noted that he’d like to see a splash pad added at the pool.

City Councilor Nichole Kennedy said she believed the revenue gains from the pool were “nickels in the bucket” and that she’d rather see all of the children have a chance to swim.

Jellie said the city could afford to fund it at no cost to the public and that the collection of revenues is offset by the efforts in collecting them.

He said with or without ARPA funding it shouldn’t be a problem.

Although no formal vote was taken, verbal consensus was give council.

Kennedy said that the city will likely see some benefit from offering the free swimming option as it will likely draw people from outside the city to use the facility.

She noted that they would likely be supporting local businesses during their trips.