Cuba’s Board of Aldermen approved an increase in pool prices on May 19 to mitigate the amount of money the city loses annually through providing a public service like the public pool.

City Clerk Lainie Garbo read the Cuba Parks and Recreation Board’s May 12 pool rate recommendations.

If the aldermen went with the board’s recommendation, daily passes would increase from $5 to $6, individual season passes would increase by $10 to $65 and an increase of $30 to $110 for a season pass for a family of two.

For the 2025 season, for a family of three to six, it was $130, but the Parks and Recreation board recommended $180 for a family of four and $200 for a group of five, with an additional $15 for up to three more people.

Senior passes were recommended a $5 increase to $45 in total, an increase of $10 for swim lessons, where individuals would be $70, and signing up two kids would be $110, with $15 for each additional kid signed up.

They made a recommendation for pool parties to increase, and prices are based on party size. For a party of 25 and under, it would increase by $50 to $150, a party of 26-40 would become 26-50 and cost $60 more at $200, and a party of over 50 guests would be an increase of $100 at $250 in total.

Alderman Ward 2 Russell Crocker said that the pool is a public service and doesn’t want to raise the prices too high, but that the city does need to mitigate as much loss as possible.

Alderman Ward 1 Ray Mortimeyer said that the pool is always going to be a liability, no matter how much they raise the prices. He was also concerned that the increases might become too high, decreasing sales. Alderman Ward 3 Joyce Hartzell doesn’t really want to change the prices.

“I think maybe parties might be okay to go up because a lot of people, you know, could pitch in for parties, but I really don’t think we should raise the price on the other things very much because, like I said, it’s for the kids,” Hartzell said.

City Comptroller Jennifer Basham challenged, saying that the park tax is helping fund the pool.

“The less liability that you have from the park fund to the pool, the more you keep in your actual park fund,” Basham said. “If you don’t help offset some of the cost and increase to your pool, anything left over is coming from the park tax, and that’s not helping your parks out.”

Garbo also read from the parks board recommendation that with the new prices, the individual pass would pay for itself after 11 days, as well as the other passes paying for themselves in similar timeframes.

In the end, the board adjusted most of the prices lower than what was recommended.

A motion to increase the daily price to $6 for ages three and up and $4 for seniors 55 and up; individual passes at $60; $140 for families of three to six; with $15 per additional add on up to two extra people; senior passes at $45; swimming lessons at $75 for individuals and $110 for two with $15 for any additional children; and private parties at $150 for 1-25 guest, $200 for 36-40 guest and $250 for over 40 guests was approved with a 5-0 vote.

The board also approved that season passes are only good during general public hours with a 5-0 vote. Any activities outside general hours will cost an additional $3, except for senior passes, which will cover everything, with no additional cost incurred.

City Attorney Emily Guffey, with Williams, Robinson and Wiggins, advised the board to put the city’s Park Tax on the April 2027 ballot instead of the Aug. 4 ballot.

The ordinance for the tax said that it can only be renewed every 10 years, and that it went into effect on Oct. 1, 2017, so the city is early. If it is placed on the April ballot instead, Guffey explained that the city would incur fewer election expenses because placing it on a general election would mean more sharing of expenses with other municipalities.

No action was taken.