July 23, 2008 06:08 pm
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Attendance at Joplin’s public pools is way up when compared to last year.
As of Wednesday, Joplin’s pools had served 22,835 patrons. That compares to 18,477 at this time last year. The increase is greater than 20 percent.
The increase in participation could help the city’s budget this year. Last year, the city spent about $140,000 subsidizing the cost of operations at Ewert, Cunningham and Schifferdecker pools, according to Leslie Jones, the city’s finance director.
“We spent $140,000 more on expenses than revenue last year for our pools,’’ she said. “This increase in attendance will help the city budget. The subsidy will be less this year, but how much less is not known. The season is half way over at this point.’’
Paul Bloomberg, who heads Joplin’s pools, and Jones said the increase in participation probably stems from people who have decided to stay in Joplin this summer instead of vacationing elsewhere because of the high price of gasoline.
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