At it's January public meeting, the Middletown Township Committee announced the 2012 Middletown Swim and Tennis Club was in jeopardy of not opening due to their claim the pool club ran a deficit for the last three years of their 15-year ownership. The Township Committee cited a drop in membership for it's revenue shortfall and said they would listen to any viable solution in order to open the swim club this Summer.
The SOS Committee (Save Our Swim Club) was formed to do just that. This group, comprised mostly of local business people, professionals, teachers and residents, collected financial records and Township documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Their finding showed a slight drop in membership but a sustainable membership base all the same.
The SOS Committee has developed a business plan - not only to operate the complex budget - but also provide a surplus necessary for future upgrades, ADA requirements and possible expansion. The plan includes moderate increases for cabana members with separate fees for membership. The SOS business plan also includes modified fees for the swim team, swim lessons, tennis lessons, day camp and daily day passes. Recommendations by the SOS Committee include ways to generate additional memberships and revenue through concession rentals and controlling daily attendance traffic into the pool club.
However, on February 6, 2012 the Township Committee held a planning meeting with motions to dissolve the pool club utility and set into motion the sale of the pool club property with deed restrictions, over continued pleas to slow the process, allowing more time for all interested parties to present their proposals on managing the pool club. They only sprung the news on the 1100+ members early this January in a press release. Prior to the Jan. 6th Town Hall meeting, there was no mention of the Pool utility dissolution…
The SOS Committee has found a sympathetic ear on the Township Committee noting with just 10 years left on the bond service, the annual payment will reduce by $100,000.00 in just 5 years allowing the Middletown Swim and Tennis Club to run at a surplus of over $150,000.00 per year with an operating season only 80 days long. This is even before proposed cost-saving and added revenue plans that the SOS committee has prepared. It does not make any sense why the Township of Middletown should make such a hasty and abrupt decision without looking for solutions. The Township has mismanaged the club for the past 3-4 years and instead of taking the steps to correct their mistakes, they are now looking to sweep all of the problems under a rug. How can we let this happen to our community? Aren’t our children, seniors and families worth it?
The next and most important meeting regarding the Pool Club will be held at Middletown's Town Hall onTuesday, February 21st at 8:00pm. All Residents and Pool Club members are highly encouraged to attend.
For more information, e-mail: MiddletownSOS@gmail.com or visit our
"Save the Middletown Swim and Tennis Club" page on FaceBook
31 comments:
Watching the video of the last meeting, I didn't see a "business plan" proposed, let alone one that would operate the Swim Club at a hefty operating profit.
Why post such nonsense?
It was stated several times that the TC would listen to proposals that made sense and did not involve the taxpayers to be at risk for any expenditures.
I believe that it was said that the SOS Committee would have to put cash on the line, enough to make the bond payments and then assume all operating costs, including utilities, insurance and the new ADA access compliance that MUST be in place prior to opening this year.
All told, probably about $650K.
Is that money going to be guaranteed?
This is a bunch of people who simply want the taxpayers to continue to support their private pool club.
"Oh where will my kids learn to swim?????"
How about the beach, where most of us learned...
Given the fact that any "business plan would most certainly require significantly more than the 5 minutes per speaker allowed at the podium during the public comment portion of the TC meetings, did it occur to you Legion that perhaps they're going to present their business plan in another more appropriate manner?
Duh!!!!!
Very interesting that you used the figure $650K, if I recall correctly didn't that figure come from the township attorney?
Someone is already waiting to buy the club, one of their buddies for the right price.
See who it is, who's connected, and then check contributions to the GOP.
Legion, you state "This is a bunch of people who simply want the taxpayers to continue to support their private pool club". This couldn't be any farther from the truth. If you took the time do do any research, you would find that taxpayers never supported the club. In fact, there was a large surplus up until THIS year. So, the Township has convinced another resident that it is a tax burden looking for voter support... Find out the facts before you add ridiculous comments. Our township needs this pool as it adds to the value of our community as a whole. In 2010, CNN Money listed Middletown in their top 100 Best Places to Live... Not any more.
Sadly, Middletown is making the papers regularly with questionable leadership decisions regarding our library and swim club, two places that provide a wholesome, nurturing and safe environment - and a variety of activities for all ages, tots to seniors.
Anon at 12:56
It's YOU that don't have the facts.
The swim club has been operating at a deficit for more than four years, drawing down the surplus until the utility was/is broke.
N0t only that, but for many, many years township staff provided thousands of man hours of work to the utility that was never charged to it, meaning that the taxpayer has been supporting this private club all along.
The members can bid on the club to buy it like anybody else, and good luck to them...
If the swim club has been a liability to taxpayers for years, why didn't the Republican dominated township committee address this before?
If the swim club has been a financial liability for years, why didn't our Republican dominated township committee address this before?
The economy has been down for quite a few years now, and I'm sure our so-called fiscal conservatives on the TC don't think fiscal responsibility is just needed in bad times.
I thought it was decided at the last Township Committee meeting that the MONEY PIT...I mean Swim Club was being auctioned off? Which means case closed; Swim Club is done. So WHY are the Save our Swim Club people 1. Not understanding the Club is DONE? and 2. Continuing to create a biz plan to present? I don't get what these die hards DON'T understand!
And WHY is the TC allowing them to waste time at their meeting to present a plan for a Club that is supposed to be SOLD???!
As a tax payer who is not a member, these SOSC members need to get that for YEARS Twsp. Workers [and quite a few at that) have been sent over there to fix, paint, band aid this losing, dying Club! So my tax dollars are being used for a service I will never use! Not fair!
I say...cut our losses and sell the Club! Get over it SOS members! Stop using MY tax dollars for YOUR summer recreation!
Legion...Let's get this straight....Middletown Swim and Tennis Club is NOT a PRIVATE club. Anyone can join, pay a fee just like anything else, because nothing is free anymore.
Also, funny how that $650K figure keeps increasing. The TC is stonewalling anyone that is interested in presenting a plan.
Also, A plan was not submitted because the TC switched up the agenda...at first they offered any offers then 2 weeks later the utility is up to be dissolved...they got scared that maybe someone has figured out that for years that club has been mismanaged and could have been financial stabile.......so let's quickly dissolve it before anyone has time to really take a close look at the financials....dirty political tricks...our town DOES NOT care about its residents.....there is NOTHING for our children to do here......once labeled the best place to live...is NOW probably at the bottom...wow I'm proud to live here..........
Anon 8:34 Good point, but not just the children who've had little to do, the Twp. seniors too. They've been hightailing it out to the Keyport senior center programs, much better and much more worth it.
The North Middletown youth have also been feeling the shrift - no Middletown Beach days for them, as they always used to enjoy. The parents up there have good reason to worry as their kids have been left to find fun on the streets instead. Good hard working single parents some of them, doing their best, just want a normal childhood for their kids.
Here's a riddle for you....How many township workers does it take to pick up sticks, fix a pot hole or mow a lawn? Answer that riddle and then decide if our township workers should actually be working or standing around watching 2 work.....at least they were put to work at the swim club....that is what taxpayers should be thankful for, that we are not paying our township workers to stand around and do nothing or sit in a secluded park on work time Before anyone tells me that is not true.......have you looked around? Have you counted the number of workers holding a shovel or rack while one poor sole is working....
"Your" tax dollars are spent on a bunch of crap "you" will never use. I don't see you complaining about the $17,000/year you contribute for each Illegal immigrant child to go to our schools....year after year. None of our politicians or you look at the biggest problem we have with the money mis-spent. The swimclub is a cultural/benefit of our town, showing prosperity and makes people want to stay here over the summer and spend their $ in town rather than somewhere else. oh, also,(How about those IPADS)?
You Republicans will only be happy when Middletown turns into Route 35 which offers 7-11's and Fast Food joints . Middletown will turn into a big 'NOTHING' of a town with 'NOTHING' to offer. Time to move out so the rats can infest.
There is a pattern here that is more pressing than the swim club. The pattern is to waste taxpayer money for years, and then hsve the same group of township leaders turn around and "act shocked" at the waste which they themselves authorized and supported. Is it not time to stop the squabbling long enough to see the roots of Middletown's ever decreaing quality of life?
I'm sorry, but for me as I was gropwing up, a swim club where only those who could afford to pay the memebrship fees was a private club.
The town should never have gotten into the swim club business, l;et alone subsidized it for all of these years.
Mistakes were made and lessons were learned. Let's sell it to somebody with the cash to update it, let them set the appropriate fees and people who can afford it can enjoy it again.
Taxpayers should not be paying for something that you must be a member of to enjoy.
Parks, beaches, the arts center, the senior center, and the library all are open to citizens with no charge except for additional programs. THAT'S how it should be.
Anon 9:49
LOL. Of course you do realize that now that the Public Works Dept. is going to be responsible for park maintainance, they'll have a legitate reason to be hiding out in the parks now.
I'm with Legion on this one. I think the SOS group should throw in the towel (pun intended). The swim club is done. No tax dollars should be put toward it at all. If SOS wants to buy it and run it, go right ahead. Just as long as it's no longer a Township property.
While I agree with Legion that taxpayers should not subsidize a club they have to join, I marvel at the light touch she places on the "lessons learned". Why are the the TC's screw-ups considered learning experiences, but any other citizen who errs is held to a "high crimes and misdemeanors
Gabrielan's error, which amounted to, at most, a few hundred dollars, was seen as heinous enough to warrant Fiore asking for his resignation. Why then, are those on the TC who year after year authorized waste in the thousands on this money pit swim club, not tendering their
own resignations?
I'm sure Legion will be able to enlighten us, though judging from her uncharacteristic typos in her last post, someone is now using an Ipad keyboard. :)
own reignations?
This may be unpopular but it’s time to cut and run. The SOS can buy its beloved “Private” swim club and remove it as a taxpayer liability. That is what it is. The mistakes of the past do not change the facts today. It’s maintained by the TAXPAYER who does not have use of the club without a membership fee. Your argument that it doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything is negated by that fact alone. Let’s not talk about the short fall we the TAXPAYER are on the hook for YOUR summertime enjoyment last year. Nobody has offered up any cash for that.
Not a single Middletown resident should be required to spend a penny more or lose any services for your club. End of story!
" gropwing up" ???? Really...
Anon 11:10 AM,
Picking on someone's typo? What are ya gonna do next, pick the wings off a butterfly? Show a little common courtesy.
Legion is correct that this swim club should NEVER have been saddled on the backs of Middletown taxpayers, and I hereby call upon any township committee member who authorized any taxpayer money diverted to this "country club" to resign immediately!
To allow any such member to stay on the dais to "remedy" what they themselves caused, would be tantamount to having the captain of the Costa Concordia lead the investigation into the sinking of the ship.
I sit here and wonder who is making these remarks? Do you attend council meetings? Do you read correspondences between council and the public? SOS is not saying the tax people should cover the cost of the pool club. SOS IS saying, we have a plan, listen to it, analysis it and then let's discuss.......BUT no....as soon as financials were requested they got nervous and scared and said.....let's dissolve this.....unbelievable. Not sure how many times people have to say.....the club CAN BE self sustaining WITHOUT using any taxpayers money.....the township ruined the club by allowing years of mismanagement, the least they can do is listen to the viable plan rather than being high and mighty and dodging all plans that are coming forward......
On another note, any pool club anywhere you pay.....either through a membership or a daily rate.....same holds true to Middletown swim and tennis....EVERYONE in Middletown has the opportunity to utilize the pool club...yeah if you didn't invest in the $300 adult/$235 membership fee you would pay a guest rate. Here is another wrong doing...the club had open use mid August...anyone could come and pay the daily rate(attendance drastically increased during this time).....the township should have had that option from the beginning...however, a $300/$235 membership is much more cost effective. If you calculate the membership fee with the number of days....where in NJ can you go for that much money? Taking a family of 4 to Six Flags cost over $300 per trip, a family of 4 going to the movies cost $75+, family of 4 at waterpark=$100+, family of 4 bowling=$50......
Yes these are hard economic times and Middletown is no exception....I know my family cut out a summer family vacation due to expenses, we no longer took week long trips but rather one long weekend...but the investment of a membership at the pool club gave us a whole summers worth of family bonding and enjoyment. Maybe those that can no longer afford vacations, beach houses, etc.....may think....Middletown pool club is cost effective for a summer of family fun!
So let's take off our tunnelvision glasses and see............WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR THE TAXPAYERS TO SALVAGE THE POOL CLUB. WE ARE ASKING THE TOWNSHIP TO LET US DO OUR THING. WE KNOW IT CAN HAPPEN IF GIVEN THE CHANCE.
I wonder how everyone that has presented numbers to the town council and CFO is WRONG....and the CFO is RIGHT.
Food for thought.....
*just because you are a teacher by degree does NOT mean you are a great teacher.
*just because you are a doctor by degree does NOT mean you are a great doctor.
*just because you are financial officer by degree does NOT mean you are a great financial officer.
EVERY SINGLE PERSON CAN NOT BE RIGHT OR WRONG ALL THE TIME. BUT ACCORDING TO OUR TC, OUR CFO IS ALWAYS RIGHT....THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE QUESTIONING THE NUMBERS ARE WRONG...EVEN IF THEY ARE BUSINESS MEN/WOMEN, LAWYERS, AND ACCOUNTANTS who know how to read and interrupt the numbers.
So....how can these people all be wrong but our CFO is correct? How can they be seeing the numbers wrong, but our CFO is correct? How can they be crunching the same numbers and be wrong, but our CFO is correct? I would love any responses to those questions......perhaps the CFO knows more than we do with the cash flow.....perhaps we were not given ALL the documents.....perhaps the documents were altered....any suggestions?
"...however, a $300/$235 membership is much more cost effective. If you calculate the membership fee with the number of days....where in NJ can you go for that much money? Taking a family of 4 to Six Flags cost over $300 per trip, a family of 4 going to the movies cost $75+, family of 4 at waterpark=$100+, family of 4 bowling=$50......
"
All so true. Why is no one from SOS talking about increasing the cost of thier membership's to let's say $1000/$750? Seems the cost of a family of 4 for 1 week in Disney would be about that and you can have the whole summer. Funny how the only ones who are upset are the people who have milked the rest of us for years. Every non-member of your private club thats been paid for by the community of Middletown should demand it to be sold!
Hey 4:02 p.m..... When that broad stops correcting everyone else's spelling,thoughts and their disagreement with her about any subject,we'll cut her some slack. In the meanwhile,she gets what she asks for! Does she enjoy being belittled ? She is ready to do it,no matter the subject,always.
9:57AM....guess you haven't been to Disney in a very long time......if you can make a disney vacation for a family of 4 on $1000 let us all in on your secret please.
You have no idea what SOS has in their plan...had the council allowed SOS to speak their plan then you all residents would see that the plan would work and bring in more revenue. The town council knows whats in the SOS plan, they had a sneak peak at it through a mole...why do you think they are so for getting this piece of property sold...they are nervous that our plan would actually work.
Don't forget to tell us how to get to disney for a week on $1000...I am planning my next trip there soon.......
Sell the pool club and take the tax rateable. It will never sustain itself and needs MAJOR repairs to even be worth opening. Let someone come in and buy the place(it will be auctioned fairly), and renovate it, and open it up and prosper employing many people and benefiting our community NOT on the backs of ALL the taxpayers for the FEW that use it.
The pool and the Arts Center....both failing efforts by a bunch of egomaniacs that cannot manage money and refuse to acknowledge that fact.
The only one the republican chairman takes care of is himself and his second in command.
If you want good government, don't support lawyers!!!
"Don't forget to tell us how to get to disney for a week on $1000...I am planning my next trip there soon......."
Like the SOS plan the real math is not very important because taxpayers will flip the bill at the end of the day. The SOS plan is based on a small increase in fees, no loss of membership, increase the day period so us common folk can swim in your club (for a fee) and no money for improvements. Great plan when you can fall back on taxpayers to fill the shortfall. That is what happened in 2011 right? That's why it's being sold right?
FYI-Family of 4 (2 adults/2 kids) would cost $3500.00 for the season @ $1000/750. You can do Disney for that if your smart unless you have taxpayers money then the sky is the limit.
Everyone should be happy that the ordinance requires it to stay as a recreational use so new homes or big box stores will have a hard time developing it. It's perfect for SOS to bone up the cash and buy it.
9:43AM......Do you have the SOS plan? How do you know what is in the SOS plan? Oh wait....you don't know because the items you just mentioned are so INCORRECT. First off NOONE said to hike the fee to $1000 per adult and $750 per child. I really wish people would get the facts prior to making comments....
Oh BTW---last time I went to Disney it cost me over $3500 for a week when you calculate travel, hotel, parks, food and spending money....maybe my family "lives" it up when we go on vacation......
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