Paying to swim in Trenton

TRENTON - June 17, 2008 Between staff and maintenance it costs the city about $300,000 a summer to run the pools, which this year won't open until July 4 to save money.

Next year's fees will probably run in the area of $125 per family for the season or $2 per person a day.

"Some people don't have pools or don't have access or transportation to go to a beach or something; they probably will end up paying anyway because it'll be hot and they want to get in the water," Tiffany Wiggins of Trenton said.

Some people are worried that many of the families that use the city pools are poor or disadvantaged and might have a hard time coming up with the money.

"They don't have anywhere to go and some parents don't have money to be able to send their kids so it's kind of rough," Lawrence Baldwin of Trenton said.

City officials say some kind of sliding scale will be worked out for those in need.

"We're not going to hurt these kids. The pools are a great tradition in Trenton. That's going to stay as long as I'm mayor here, but we do have to make sure we find reasonable fees that people can pay," Mayor Doug Palmer said.

Pools will be free this summer, but the charges start next year.