FARGO (KFGO-KVRR) – Following mounting public pressure, Fargo Park District is preparing to change its plans to sharply raise the cost of using its pool facilities.
Fargo Park Board President Aaron Hill says the board will meet next week to begin discussing the changes.
Board members were planning to raise the cost of a 2025 family season pool pass to all five pools from $193 last year to $500 this year.
Plans were also in the works to sharply raise golf course fees.
“Some of the feedback I know as a commissioner that I’ve received is people are sort of saying hey if you move to this pricing structure you might really be harming sort of the you know people on lower income or more moderate incomes,” Hill says. “I think that was the thing where we’re like ‘okay we need to make sure that’s not what we’re doing.’”
“Pools are very expensive to operate. Very, very expensive to operate. And the goal isn’t for us to make money, we’re not trying to generate profit, that we don’t expect them to be profitable, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about the costs that goes into them.”
Residents in Fargo have been sharing their concerns on social media. One person wrote “To me this feels like a money grab to subsidize the new pool … So I guess the message from the park board to the community members is, hey if you’re poor go to Madison or North Side but forget about Island Park or having the option to go to multiple pools.”
Hill didn’t specify what kind of revisions the board is considering. He says the final decision for the 2025 prices will be made at the board meeting on March 11th.
Comments