Aquatic Center Tax Abatement

Background

• May 2021—10 days prior to opening for the season the Aquatic Center suffered a major electrical system failure. Repairs were made but the equipment age required used repair parts to be used due to obsolete systems.
• 2022-2023 Design started to replace the aging equipment and construct a new space to house the filters and pumps that meets current codes. A request for bonding at the state level failed and the project was put on pause until more research on funding could be conducted.
• 2024 design work again commenced with the plan that a Construction bond. This work wrapped up in early 2025 and a General Contractor was hired for preconstruction assistance to finalize the designs.

Project Goals

The scope of work includes constructing a new building adjacent to the existing structure. Doing so will allow the existing equipment to operate the pool during the 2025 season while construction on the new structure is underway. The existing building will be tied into the new structure and service as storage and a connection point for the new pool piping to existing. Visitors will see the usable deck space expand in this area and if the budget allows the wooden shade trellis between the zipline and zero-depth entry pool will be replaced along with other user amenities.

Funding

The public hearing is on the funding needs and the city's proposed use of the general obligation bonding. The City Council is set to conduct a public hearing to discuss two key proposals. The first proposal involves the City abating property taxes levied on the property identified in Exhibit A. The second proposal is for the City to issue General Obligation Tax Abatement Bonds, as qualified 501(c)(3) bonds, in an amount not exceeding $8,985,000 (the “Bonds”). The total amount of taxes proposed to be abated over a period of up to 15 years is estimated to be no more than $8,985,000 (the “Abatement”).

Purpose

The purpose of these proposals is to finance improvements to the City’s Aquatic Center (the “Project”), which is owned and operated by the City and located at 4300 W 66th Street. The Project is intended for use by the general public, the City, and qualified 501(c)(3) organizations.