The Unterhachinger outdoor pool is opening this year after all.
For a long time, the community had considered closing the pool for reasons of economy.
This caused great resentment among the population.
Unterhaching
– On average, around 150,000 visitors flock to the Unterhaching outdoor pool, which is popular far beyond the municipal boundaries, and the concern that nothing will come of it this year due to financial bottlenecks in the municipal treasury is off the table: Unterhaching wants to mitigate the deficits with a new admission price concept .
There is even a date for the opening of the season - from Mother's Day (May 14) the swimming pool, slide and diving board will be open to the public.
triggered public discussion
As Mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD) reported in the Finance Committee, the public discussion about the non-opening of the outdoor pool “triggered a public discussion with the result: please open”.
The head of the building administration, Stefan Lauszat, also registered "the extremely high popularity of the outdoor pool" - it was "a beautiful, but also loss-making facility".
In order to make the negative business a bit more bearable, the experts from the town hall ran through several optimization scenarios.
Water temperature is lowered
The most costly factors are heating the water and the associated electricity consumption.
Lowering the water temperature could save at least 10,000 euros, explained Lauszat.
A further 20,000 euros in cost savings is to be achieved by slowing down the heating phase of the pool water using geothermal energy - at the start of the season on May 14th it could be a little fresh(er) in the pools.
No savings are made on staff
It is not an issue to use the staff as an adjusting screw.
“Our lifeguards also look after the outdoor pool or help out at the cash desk if necessary.
But their primary task is to supervise the pool,” said Lauszat.
Lives have been saved in the past by quickly intervening in the case of two heart attacks: "To save on security would be madness."
Entry costs more
After energy and staff, there remains the number three factor: the entrance fee.
Unterhaching compared its price structure with other outdoor pools, in Munich as well as at Tegernsee - and moderately increases the entrance fee.
Single tickets now cost one euro more (adults six euros, children four euros).
A drop in visitor numbers of five percent is expected, but the additional income would still be around 60,000 euros.
Roughly the same sum should also be achieved with the season tickets, the abolition of which has been rejected: They will be 20 euros more expensive in all tariff areas (adults now 95 euros).
As an additional source of income, Korbinian Rausch (CSU) suggested charging for parking spaces.
