The City of Athens is slated to have an official timeline for construction of the municipal pool Monday night, more than a year after planning for the project began.
Council President Chris Knisely said the city administration will provide an update on potential pool designs and a construction schedule at that week's City Council meeting.
At last week’s meeting Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-At Large, said she has recently been approached at a number of community events by citizens questioning when construction will begin.
“I am hopeful that once we get funding and stay on track with construction, the pool could be open by next year,” Knisely said.
In March, council members voted to build a completely new pool instead of repeatedly spending money on repairs to the existing pool on East State Street. The topic of the pool has been a point of contention for over a year, due largely to conflicting opinions as to what features should be included as part of the renovation.
The current pool is more than 40 years old.
At the last council meeting, a bill was introduced that would allow the city to take out bonds to pay for the construction of the pool. The plan is to use those bonds to fund an immediate construction of the pool, which will cost about $7.3 million. Over the span of 20 years, the city will pay back those bonds through the 0.1 percent income tax increase passed in 2014. The levy will raise a total of about $17 million, and the city will have to pay back a total of about $9 million, including interest, Knisely said
The remaining taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for city park improvements.
Council will also hear an estimate number from the auditor on how much revenue to expect from collected property taxes. Usually, the city makes $800,000 annually by collecting property taxes.
