Frequently Asked Questions

It is unusual and expensive for a small suburban community to operate two large swimming pools at two separate locations which each have their own mechanical systems, bathhouse buildings, concessions, and lifeguards. Public outdoor pools in Minnesota are a great amenity but they lose money, they do not make money. Revenue from admissions and concessions can help with operating costs but generally will not touch the capital costs of constructing the pool in the first place. In recent years, there have been labor shortages which have made it more difficult and expensive to find qualified lifeguards. This makes it even more challenging to operate two separate public pools that each need a team of lifeguards.

Currently, families with young children generally go to Lorraine Splash Pool and families with older children generally go to Northview Pool. Neither existing pool facility has the right design features to entertain a family with children of all ages, and this has a very real and very negative impact on total attendance numbers. JLG Architects has advised that the City should see a significant increase in total attendance numbers if it builds a “fun for the whole family” aquatics facility that includes both a full-sized swimming pool and a spray feature for young children. This will help the aquatics program bring in more revenue to offset operating expenses.

The proposed aquatics center would be designed to have pool options for children of all ages since it would be replacing both existing pools-Lorraine Splash Pool and Northview Pool. The $8.55 million estimated price tag includes the cost of building a new program pool that is like Northview Pool except that it would have a zero-depth beach entry and waterslides AND the cost of building a young children’s play area with a spray feature. The price tag would also include the cost of replacing/upgrading the parking lot and constructing a new support building with restrooms, changing rooms, and concessions.

It would likely cost almost as much if not more money to renovate the existing pools as it would to construct a new aquatics facility. It is difficult to control the budget of a pool renovation project because you might encounter issues you were not expecting once you start taking the pool apart. A new pool will last much longer than a renovated pool and building a new aquatics facility is the most cost-effective option for South St. Paul taxpayers.

JLG Architects has prepared some very preliminary estimates of operating costs. An outdoor aquatics center would cost between $250,000-$350,0000 annually to operate. An indoor aquatics center would cost between $1.1 million- $1.3 million annually to operate.

Northview Pool has a $116,547 budget for 2025. The Lorraine Park Splash Pool has a budget of $99,149 for 2025. However, both pools are at the end of their useful lives and require substantial “above and beyond” emergency investments each year to keep them operating which makes the facilities difficult to budget for. The Northview Pool went over budget by almost $28,000 in 2024 and the Lorraine Splash Pool went over budget by almost $20,000 in 2024.

Public pools and community centers do not make money. In addition to paying the capital costs to build the facility in the first place, local taxpayers in many communities must contribute an annual operating subsidy because these types of facilities often do not generate enough revenue to fully cover their annual operating expenses.   Public pools and community centers are an amenity, and they should be primarily tailored towards local needs since it is the local taxpayers who will be responsible for covering the annual operating subsidy if one is needed. That being said, making the facility inviting enough to attract non-residents can bring in additional revenue to help offset operating costs and reduce the size of the annual subsidy.

The City will try to get State funding and private donor funding to help bring down the cost of building a new aquatics facility. The State Legislature recently agreed to pay for almost half of the $5.35 million cost of renovating the City of Crystal’s swimming pool, but Crystal operates a regional pool that serves many non-residents. The City of South St. Paul was not successful in its efforts to get bonding dollars for the aquatics program during the Minnesota Legislature’s 2025 session. The City will try again during the 2026 Legislative Session.

 The State Legislature imposed a two-year moratorium on new local sales taxes during their 2023 session and they will not consider allowing any cities to implement a local sales tax until 2026 at the earliest. The City of South St. Paul did study this issue several years ago and it was determined that relatively few non-residents shop and dine in South St. Paul so a local sales tax would primarily affect existing city residents.

 Some community members have suggested during public engagement that the City should have raised taxes decades ago to establish a special fund that could be used now to build a new pool with cash and without borrowing money. That type of approach is generally not politically feasible because it means that the people paying for the new pool may never even get to use it. It would be very unusual for elected officials to raise taxes on current residents to establish a fund to pay for future recreational amenities that will exclusively benefit future residents.

Members of the pool feasibility study team had meetings with South St. Paul School District Leadership to discuss the potential for collaboration. An outdoor swimming pool, which was identified as the overwhelming preference by community members through the City’s public engagement process, does not meet the School District’s needs. Many school districts welcome ownership of an indoor swimming pool but that was not within the scope of this project.

The project team has determined that it would cost roughly $11 million to build an indoor aquatics center in South St. Paul but this type of facility would only be large enough to accommodate the community’s recreational needs. The aquatics center would need to be much larger to accommodate a large enough lap pool to support the competitive swimming and the cost would likely increase by at least $8 million for a total project cost of $19-$21 million, substantially increasing the financial impact of the project on local residents and businesses. The School District’s swim team program is currently very small and has a small number of participants. The School District also uses their existing indoor pool for gym classes and swimming lessons in addition to offering some community open swim time.

The project team has heard feedback from many community members that the School District’s indoor pool at Central Square is kept at a low temperature to make it better suited for competitive swimming. The colder water makes the facility less pleasant for recreational users. There would be some logistical challenges such as water temperature to be worked through if the City and the School District wanted to collaborate on an indoor aquatics center at some point in the future when the Central Square pool is at the end of its useful life.

There are already many indoor and outdoor regional pools in the area that can be easily reached by any SSP resident who has access to a car. Community members have consistently expressed that one of the main reasons why they love the Northview Pool is that it is a rite-of-passage for middle school students and teenagers to go to the pool by themselves by walking or riding their bike. Northview Pool is a community pool that is easily accessed by community members. It is very unlikely that a regional pool would be built in South St. Paul due to space constraints so any new regional pool in Dakota County would likely require a car trip and would not be that much more convenient than existing regional pools. Ramsey County and Anoka County both operate large regional pools, but they built their pools at large County-owned regional parks.

JLG Architects has warned against pursuing this type of project. There is no cost-effective way to seasonally enclose an outdoor swimming pool with a proven technology. A retractable roof system that has enough insulation to allow year-round swimming would be enormously expensive and would be financially out of reach for South St. Paul. Baldwin, Wisconsin launched a project in 2021 to build an outdoor pool that can be enclosed during the winter with an inflatable sports dome. This is not a proven technology, and there are enough downsides to this approach that it is not recommended at this time. There are substantial labor costs and logistical challenges involved with erecting, taking down, and storing the dome each year. The dome itself has a limited lifespan and will need to be replaced periodically with a substantial cost.