Casper outdoor pools likely to remain closed through summer

With the city in a large financial hole for Fiscal Year 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis and low oil prices, Casper City Council members are looking at major budget cuts to make ends meet.

When discussing these cuts at Tuesday’s work session, council members reaffirmed their stance that outdoor pools are unlikely to open this summer.

This is because they’re expensive to operate and current health restrictions allow only one swimmer per lane according to city officials.

“It costs about the same whether you have one person in the pool to run the pool or whether you have 100. You still have to have lifeguards. You have to have the staff that takes care of it, keeps things clean. And so it becomes a real tough economic issue,” Councilman Bob Hopkins, Ward I, said.

Fiscal Year 2021 starts July 1, 2020.

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