City of Cashmere Debates Future of the City Pool

The City of Cashmere is discussing the future of their city pool and looking for alternative ways to fund its operating fees.

This year, the city discovered that the pool had a leak that needs to be fixed before next summer.

Cashmere Mayor Jim Fletcher said they will be bringing in an engineer to assess the pool’s current condition.

Fletcher also said they will need a community vote on increasing income tax revenues for the pool, stating the annual one percent increase in property tax would not be enough for the pool’s maintenance and operating costs.

Currently, some options in how to fund the pool include:

• A one-year revenue increase of $100,000, which would be a 14 percent tax increase.
• A five-year plan with a $20,000 per year revenue increase, totaling to $100,000, resulting in a 2.8 percent tax increase each year.

After either of these plans, the property tax base will return to one percent per year.

• Voters could elect a different governing board to take care of the pool.
• Voters can approve a general operating bond for capital improvements, which would include the city pool.

Cashmere city council will also look into drafting a comprehensive plan on how to improve the pool and start looking for grants.