Increased numbers of people enrolled in Central Otago District Council’s (CODC) swim school are helping prop up the rising costs of heating the Alexandra Pool.

A discussion was held at the Vincent Community Board yesterday (Tuesday July 29) about the challenges of heating the outdoor pool over summer because of the aging heating exchange system.

The financial report for the end of year June 2024/25 showed an increase in expenditure of $86,000 for pool operations - jumping from the budgeted $154,000 to $240,000.

CODC community experience group manager David Scoones told the meeting the high cost of heating the outdoor pool over summer contributed to the rise in fuel expenses, and the heat exchange system also was at the end of its life.

“That system won’t be in play for the next two years, so we won’t be heating the pool for the next two years,” he said.

A new system had been budgeted for in the Long Term Plan for 2027.

“It’s only the outdoor pool while they were connected but we have disconnected that and we’ll still have that open over summer without any heating,” he said.

Numbers over summer showed about 3,000 users of the outdoor pool, compared to 60,000 annual users of the entire facility.

David highlighted the success of the Alexandra swim school in recent years which now had 2,500 people enrolled - almost ten percent of the total population.

As a result, more swim teachers had to be employed to keep up with demand, he said.

“People are learning to swim and kudos to the team for putting in a good programme.”

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