Ideally, pool maintenance would be a break-even proposition, but those costs haven't been nailed down at this early stage. Last week, county commissioners, Hamilton city officials and members of a pool association met with interested citizens to discuss forming the park district. A swimming pool association began pursuing the idea a couple of years ago when it became clear that the existing city pool on Main Street had little life left in it. Indeed, the city will close the Main Street swimming pool permanently at the end of next summer. The association concluded that the formation of a Hamilton-Corvallis park district would be the best way to fund the swimming pool.
State law prohibits creating a park district which encompasses the entire county.
Whether county commissioners go along with the proposal will likely depend on the costs of construction and operation. Preliminary estimates show that it could cost as much as 10.86 mills to build and 12 mills for annual maintenance. But mill amounts are established by state law and capped at a set amount. Some county officials are concerned that the 10.86 mill cost of construction may exceed the cap. Even if that were not the case, they worry that the few mills remaining would be used up by swimming pool maintenance with not enough left for emergencies.