Dubbo pool bill soars after Nick Wilson dumped as manager

A shake up to the way a regional NSW council runs its pools has led to soaring costs for ratepayers after the contract with a much-loved pool manager was not renewed.

Ratepayers in the Dubbo region are paying 89 per cent more to keep pools running than they were five years ago.

According to a Dubbo Regional Council report, the net cost of operating pools at Wellington, Geurie and Dubbo increased from $670,000 in 2016-17 to $1.27 million in 2020-21.

The Dubbo pool is costing ratepayers more to run. Picture: Ryan Young

The spike came despite the cash-strapped council raking in about $925,000 in revenue during 2020-21, which was a sharp increase on the $412,000 the organisation pocketed in 2016-17.

Council spending on the pools jumped by more than double, from $1.08 million in 2016-17 to $2.19 million in 2020-21.

The biggest growth in spending occurred at Wellington, where there was about a 123 per cent increase.

In Dubbo, the increase in spending was about 80 per cent when 2016-17 figures were compared to those from 2020-21.

The revelations contained in the council report come after a controversial shake up was made in March 2019, to the way pools were run in region.

For about 13 years, the biggest pool in the region at Dubbo was operated by external contractor B and N Aquatics, however in a secret meeting of council in March 2019, a majority of councillors voted to ditch that arrangement and move forward with a plan to have council run all pools itself.

A screenshot of the Change.org petition set up after Dubbo council changed how it runs pools. Picture: Change.org

Popular pool manager Nick Wilson was the public face of B and N Aquatics and the changes the council made led to the creation of a Change.org petition which called on the council to reinstate Mr Wilson as manager of the Dubbo pool.

The petition attracted more than 3900 online signatures however the council resisted community pressure and stuck with its decision.

At a meeting held when the report into pool finances was tabled, the council’s organisational performance director, Dean Frost, said there were many factors which led to an increase in overall costs to ratepayers, including the cost of paying staff wages under the new in-house model of running the pools.

“Approximately 70 per cent of the costs associated with running an aquatic centre goes to staff costs and in the local government sphere our award is more than what the other awards are so there’s a bit of a challenge we’ve got to manage there,” Mr Frost said.

“That’s something, that over this current season and coming seasons, we’ll be starting to really hone in on and really start setting plans about how and when we engage our staff so that we can get those ratios better.”

Former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields and Dubbo state Nationals MP Dugald Saunders open the new $8.35 million Wellington pool in 2019. Picture: Dubbo Regional Council

Mr Frost said while a new splash park at Dubbo and heating at the new Wellington pool had given communities greater access to aquatic leisure services, they had to led to a need to employ more staff and spend more on gas.

“The council also made decisions when it took over the facilities, to review the membership fees and there was quite a substantial reduction in membership fees and that obviously had an impact on revenue … but at the same time would have made the facilities more attractive and accessible to the community,” he said.

“Some of our assets that we’ve had on site have been running towards the end of their useful life so there’s been a real need to focus our energies on making sure those items are replaced and we can keep the facilities running.”

The increase in pool revenue was attributed to council taking over responsibility for cafes, learn to swim classes and merchandise sales.

Dubbo Mayor Stephen Lawrence said councillors who voted to change the way pools were managed were aware it would likely be a more expensive of doing things.

“The basis on which that was put to us as something we should do, was that there was a planned redevelopment of the pool and it was put to us that we shouldn’t enter into an external management contract in that circumstance and that it would be better to bring it in-house so we would have complete flexibility around those further works,” he told The Dubbo News.

“I guess I also felt pretty comfortable with it, in the sense that I have a philosophical position in favour of council services being run in-house.”

Dubbo Regional Council CEO Murray Wood has issued a warning about the organisation’s financial situation. Picture: Ryan Young

Mr Lawrence said in hindsight, he queried many decisions made over this term of council which was last week described as “asset rich and cash poor” by CEO Murray Wood, who issued a warning the organisation’s budget will be under “significant duress” in coming years.

The latest financial statements show the council posted an $11.1 million budget deficit in the last financial year before capital grants and funding contributions were taken into account.

“In just about every way, the region’s success, growth and strategic position has provided council with additional costs,” Mr Wood said.

“With an unexpected decrease in revenue over consecutive years, those demands, if left unchecked or not addressed now, could out-strip council’s annual revenue and cash reserves or ‘rainy day savings’.

“As a council, we really need the community to help us identify and drive savings. If the community wants to consolidate and focus on what we have now, we can work with what we’ve got to maintain a standard the community expects...if the community wants more new assets or more services, then council will need to actively look at what it can reduce or remove to balance expenditure, insofar as existing services and assets, to make it happen while remaining financially viable.”