Learn to Swim Victoria warns loss of money on fee refund could spell end for centre
A Heidelberg swim centre fearful of closure due to coronavirus has been given a reprieve from the state government. But its director wants more to be done as lost lesson fees could plague the school for months to come.
East
Don't miss out on the headlines from East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
The leading Heidelberg swim school in danger of permanent closure has been thrown a lifeline, with the Department of Education agreeing to waive term one fees.
Learn to Swim Victoria director Joanne Love said the department agreed to the discount after a second look into their situation.
Ms Love said it was a weight off her shoulders, but she hoped the department would be open to a renegotiated contract.
The business pays the department of education 16 per cent of their income to rent the Heidelberg Primary School pool.
“We can’t last term three giving them 16 per cent of our income,” Ms Love said.
The pool was facing permanent closure, losing thousands of dollars a week during lockdown.
Ms Love started her coaching journey 27 years ago but fears the pandemic might cost her the business.
Parents had already started pulling children from classes before lockdown, worried about their safety.
“We’d lost 75 per cent of our clients by the end of term one,” Ms Love said.
Forced to close for term two, she had to let 30 staff members walk.
“We can’t put casuals onto JobKeeper because we just don’t have the money,” she said.
“They’re all local staff that live in the area and they’re devastated.”
She said the school was forced to pay out refunds to parents who had prepaid for term two classes.
But even with no children in the pool, the bills kept coming.
Maintaining the pool costs $4000 a week and Ms Love has paid out more than $100,000 in wages and redundancies, hoping her JobKeeper payments come in soon.
“I don’t know how long we can do this for,” she said.
“We’re living off life savings.”
Ms Love asked the Department of Education for the term one fees to be waived, to ensure they had enough money to last the lockdown.
The department originally told them to pay up, but Ms Love said after further investigation they had now agreed to waive term one fees.
MORE CORONAVIRUS NEWS:
COVID-19 CASES JUMP ACROSS MELBOURNE
HOW TO JOIN A LOCKDOWN FUN RUN
COUNCILS NOT BACKING DOWN ON RATES
“We are providing support to Learn to Swim Victoria by waiving the licence fees that the business would normally be required to pay,” a Department of Education spokesman said.
“This is a difficult period for the Victorian community and we are working with all organisations that have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.”
But Ms Love said she was still hoping to reduce the percentage of income they had to pay as fees, worried the current rate wouldn’t leave them with enough money to recover.
She believed parents would be hesitant to send their kids to swim school after the pandemic, and a slow start to the business will only put them further in the hole.
MORE: BIG STEP FORWARD FOR NE LINK FIGHT
SEVEN BIDDERS CLASH OVER NORTHCOTE HOME
COMMUTER CAR PARK WORKS DELAYED AGAIN
“I think they think we’ll open our doors and people will come flooding back – they’re living in ‘Noddyland’,” she said.
She suggested vouchers be given to parents to use at swim schools and other active businesses to encourage parents to spend money and get kids back playing sport quickly.