The Hermiston City Council approved changes to patron fees for the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center.
Beginning this summer, season passes will go up across the board and daily admittance fees will go up for one age group.
The good news is that infants will no longer be charged an entrance fee.
The new season pass fees are:
- Youth – $60 (up from $50)
- Adult – $70 (up from $60)
- Senior – $60 (up from $50)
- Family – $170 (up from $150)
Daily admittance fees are:
- Infant – Free (down from $4)
- Child 1-9 – $4 (no change)
- Youth 10-17 – $5 (up $1 for those 12 and under; no change for those 13-17)
- 18 and up – $6 (no change)
- Seniors – $5 (no change)
The council approved doing away with daily family passes which had cost $20. Parks and Recreation Director Larry Fetter said the daily family pass was too easy to manipulate and people were adding “family members” while in line to decrease the cost of each person.
The Parks and Recreation Committee approved the fee changes in February along with a $1 fee for infants. Fetter said the reason to charge infants was to get an accurate count of people coming to the pool. Council members suggested a turnstile clicker or hand clicker to count visitors rather than charge infants.
Fetter said the fee changes are essentially in line with fees charged by other aquatic centers in similar-sized communities. He said the increased revenue the new fees will bring in will help pay for upkeep of the 14-year-old facility and allow the parks department to continue to add new features to keep the pool competitive and people coming to Hermiston to use it.
“The pool is one of the most popular tourist attractions we have,” Fetter said.
Fetter also said the recent increases to the minimum wage have also taken a bigger bite out of the center’s budget.
The pool is expected to open on June 2 and operate through Sept. 3.
