Town to Adopt Lower Pool Fees for Seniors, Caregivers

On Tuesday night, the Maplewood Township Committee decided not to approve the 2012 Mapleood Community Pool fees as proposed in the ordinance introduced on Feb. 7.

Rather the Committee has asked Town Counsel Roger Desiderio to amend the ordinance to reflect some public input on senior and caregiver rates.

Mayor Vic DeLuca shared feedback from the Pool Advisory Committee's meeting last week addresssing concerns:

• The Committee discussed the concerns raised by pool members about senior membership rates and recommended a reduction in the percentage of increase for seniors from 20 percent to 16 percent — a difference of $5. The new recommended rates for seniors are a regular rate $180, an early rate of $140 and an August rate of $90. This compares with the original recommendation of $185, $145 and $90; and the 2011 rates of $155, $115 and $80. In looking at the senior rate, the Committee felt that a two senior household would have to pay $370 while a non-senior couple household would pay $375, a $5 difference. The Committee thought there should be a greater difference between the two classes of couple membership based on the assumption that the senior household would most likely be on a fixed income while a non-senior couple would most likely be working. The difference under the new recommended rates is $15 — $360 vs. $375.

• The committee recommended that the Family & Caregiver be equal to the Family 8+. The argument that the caregiver and the two parents are rarely at the pool together made sense to the Committee. In the end it was felt that a fairer rate was using the Family 8+ rate also for the Family & Caregiver. The recommended revised rates for Family and Caregiver: $500 regular rate, $460 early bird rate and $250 August rate. This compares with the original recommendation of $600, $560 and $300 and the 2011 rates of $460, $400 and $315. The bottom line is the revised rate is $100 less than the original recommendation but still higher than the 2011 rates by $40.

The pool committee believed that the retention of families and the recruitment of new families would off-set the loss of additional revenue from the reduced rates.

The amended ordinance should be approved on March 6. Residents will then be able to register for the early bird fees. Patch is checking with town leaders to see of the early period registration period will be extended.