TC discusses pool fees for coming seasons

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Maplewood Township Committee discussed party pricing at the Maplewood Community Pool at its Oct. 1 meeting, in advance of the township’s Pool Advisory Committee hearing final revenue numbers from the 2019 season at its meeting at the end of the month. The committee decided at the meeting that group rates will be decided on a year-to-year basis.

“This is something we last discussed at our meeting on May 7, when we passed a resolution that set fees for pricing for parties in the 2019 season only,” Committeeman Greg Lembrich, the liaison to the PAC, said at the meeting. “Now we’re looking ahead to 2020 and I bring this item up both for purposes of clarification and also to remind the township that we will need to make sure we have adequate communication to our PTAs and other groups.”

The committee passed a resolution in 2018 that determined the pool party prices, but it was delayed from taking effect earlier this year with the resolution that Lembrich mentioned because the previous prices had not been communicated well. With the second resolution, parties with up to 15 attendees cost $250 on weekdays and $500 on weekends. The cost added $10 per person for any party with more than 15 attendees.

Lembrich wanted to discuss the 2020 fees with the committee members so they would be able to communicate them to community groups as they go through the budgeting process this fall. It also allows Maplewood CFO Joseph Kolodziej, Recreation Director Melissa Mancuso and the PAC to consider the revenue earned from parties in their budgets as well. The data from the 2019 pool season has not been finalized yet, but Lembrich said the PAC would hear a presentation from Kolodziej at its next meeting at the end of the month.

“Let’s see the data so we can decide, is there a number that may be different from the one we agreed upon versus something else?” Deputy Mayor Frank McGehee said at the meeting.

Maplewood Business Administrator Sonia Alves-Viveiros said that since some parties were canceled due to bad weather, the data might not be accurate. They can, however, see what the revenue would have been had the parties not been canceled.

Committeeman Dean Dafis asked whether the best way to move forward in the future is to set party prices each year.

“The resolution process is obviously much easier than the ordinance process,” township attorney Roger Desiderio said at the meeting. “If you want to visit this on a yearly basis, then I would keep it as a resolution. If you decide you want to keep it at what was originally reflected, then I would suggest we do a resolution for 2019 to affirm what those numbers are.”

Dafis said he wants to include input from the community groups who will be paying the fees in the decision the committee makes about how much to charge for the 2020 pool season.

“They’re going to be paying these fees,” he said at the meeting. “We can take that data and the data we know we need to break even, which is also important, and come up with a solution that we can then say was truly informed and well-balanced.”

Lembrich suggested that the township committee discuss the fees further at its first meeting in November, after the 2019 revenue information has been presented to the PAC.

  Maplewood Community Pool, Maplewood Township Committee