Adelaide Aquatic Centre to remain open as new figures show money leaking
The Adelaide Aquatic Centre will be open to fight another day as figures show ratepayers will have to fork out millions to keep the facility afloat.
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The Adelaide Aquatic Centre will not be closed in March next year, after a council vote went down to the wire to keep it open.
On Tuesday night, Adelaide City Council discussed Cr Jessy Khera’s idea to mothball the leisure centre site, off Jeffcott Road in the Parklands.
The Adelaide Aquatic Centre faced being closed indefinitely from the end of March, under a proposal to stem its financial burden on city ratepayers.
But out of the nine councillors that voted, the centre’s lifeline came down to a single vote, turfing plans to close.
Cr Alexander Hyde said keeping the centre open was a tough decision for the council, having to weigh up the pros and cons of keeping the facility afloat in murky waters.
“It’s a tough decision because councils do want to ensure people still have access to the services they’re used to, but at the same time don’t want to take an unsustainable approach,” he said.
Cr Hyde added he worries for the future of the centre should government funding not be introduced to assist the cost of running the facility.
The Advertiser understands the centre is on track to record an operating deficit of $3.6m this financial year, up from a predicted loss of $2.5m.
The deficit is set to total $31.5m over the next 10 years. It would come on top of $13.4m in projected capital expenditure over the same period.
The situation threatened to leave the door open for the Adelaide Crows to revive its plan to transform the site and an adjacent oval into a $65m headquarters for the football club.
In a motion lodged for Tuesday night’s council meeting, Cr Jessy Khera said action is needed to address “the unsustainable and ongoing operating loss of the Aquatic Centre over the 2020 calendar year”.
The pandemic has caused chaos for the council’s budget, with debt set to rise to more than $215m within a decade.
Cr Hyde said the cost of keeping the Aquatic Centre open showed there should be a “serious discussion” about mothballing it from March.
“Closing the pool after this summer would be a hard decision to make, but given our circumstances it is a discussion we must have,’’ he said.
“This was never meant to be a council-run pool, it was the state aquatic centre and it still serves as a regional facility.
“We are a small council and 92 per cent of visits to the pool are from people outside our council area.”
Cr Anne Moran said the closure was not necessary and she hoped the council would seek Federal Government funding to upgrade the key public asset.
“There are many federal schemes around for sporting facilities at the moment, and the one I support for North Adelaide is an open-air facility,’’ she said.
“These work well in Burnside, Unley, and Norwood or Kensington.”
In April, the Crows shelved their plan to demolish the Aquatic Centre and replace it with a new complex, citing the tough economic conditions created by the pandemic.
But in October, Crows incoming club chairman John Olsen said the plan was still an option. Other possible sites for a new Crows base include Thebarton Oval and the Adelaide Showground, Wayville.
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