Corrigin residents prepared to pay for pool benefits (#805)

A new year-round indoor hydrotherapy pool will shortly open in Corrigin – adding an extra dimension to its seasonal 50m outdoor swimming pool at a cost of roughly $1.4M.  That Shire recognises that the community understands the benefits and is prepared to pay.  Inevitably, rates must increase to cover the annual running costs of such facilities.  The trick is to keep the increase small by good design.

The average ratepayer in Corrigin contributed $1,670 to the 2011/12 Shire budget.  The Shire of Denmark has a population five times larger and in the same year the average rate was $1,119.  DACCI estimates that an increase of the order of 7%  (about $80 pa) would be sufficient to run a Denmark Aquatic Centre.

Any community of reasonable size should offer a range of services to meet the varying needs of its members. There are inevitably services which we don’t personally use, but which we happily support because we recognise their value to the community as a whole.   For example, the Youth Centre offers me no personal benefit, but I gladly support it via rates as I recognise its value to the community.

Some ratepayers will not use a pool, and some may be reluctant to pay higher rates to support one. If you are among them, DACCI encourages you to consider carefully the wealth of benefits that a pool would bring to your community, including some of the people most important to you – perhaps your children or grandchildren, your elderly parents, or your friends and their families.

There is huge community support for a pool. Tellingly, although the last Shire Community Needs and Customer Satisfaction Survey did not specifically ask about the need for a pool, it received 92 unsolicited comments supporting a pool – citing the benefits for children, schools, youth, adults, sportsmen, the unfit, the aged, those with injuries or mobility problems and the disabled. You will certainly know people in Denmark in at least one of those categories who would benefit from a pool in some way.

This comment sent to DACCI by Dr Lisa Clarke crystallizes the feelings of many pool supporters.

It is time for Denmark to recognize the fitness and health needs of all its citizens – a pool in Denmark would allow our aged citizens a chance for water fitness programs, it would allow our children to learn to swim without having a 100km round trip, it would allow our citizens with injuries to access water rehabilitation programs and the facility would become an important social and sporting hub for our whole community. The question should not be “Can we afford a pool in Denmark” but instead “Can we afford not to have a pool in Denmark?”

Hard to argue with, isn’t it?

Cyril Edwards, DACCI, denmarkpool@gmail.com and http://www.denmarkpool.blogspot.com.