Pool Adds 11% to Revenue Totals in Second Half of July

Between July 14 and July 26, the city's newly inaugurated Aquatics Program brought in another $25,463, largely from sales of annual pool passes ($10,100), seasonal passes ($6,400), group swimming lessons ($7,962), and general admission fees ($2,120), according to new figures presented to City Council Monday.

Total revenue to date has now reached $225,116 toward the $375,000 that the city's the pool will generate in the 2011-2012 fiscal year. In his revenue reports, Recreation Director Mark Delventhal has been using $429,250 as a somewhat more ambitious target for the pool's first year under municipal operation.

In the second half of July, the Recreation Department sold 27 more passes—23 of them to Piedmont families and individuals—for a total of 300 since passes went on sale June 7. The department is aiming to sell 445 by the end of next June; the model used to formulate the revenue assumptions for the Aquatics Program suggests at least 375 need to be sold.

In an effort to sell more, the Recreation Department mailed a solicitation Monday to former members of the Piedmont Swim Club, which had operated the pool . Though the city is charging significantly less for its seasonal and individual passes than the club's annual dues cost, so far only about 150 former club members—roughly a third of the old membership—have bought in.

Councilman Garrett Keating speculated Monday that the demand for passes among Piedmont residents may be tapped.

"I would think most [resident] families that wanted to be in the pool would be in by now," he said.

Councilwoman Margaret Fujioka suggested the Recreation Department run a "full court press" to bring in non-residents.

The department has not yet marketed passes outside Piedmont, but non-residents have accounted for nearly a third of swimming lesson registrations after a mailing went out to about 24,000 households in nearby Oakland neighborhoods.

Delventhal expressed cautious optimism that Aquatics Program revenue would pick up in the coming months, noting that pass sales for two summer seasons will be counted in the current fiscal year.