NEWCASTLE councillors have taken the plunge, voting to continue $2 pool entry and extend the deal to concession card holders at Lambton despite warnings the move will squeeze the budget.
Subsidised entry is expected to cost ratepayers more than $600,000 next season, forcing council staff to find about $150,000 in savings to avoid a budget deficit.
While not everyone was keen to jump in with both feet, Labor councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said the success of the trial was clearly reflected in booming visitor numbers this summer.
"There are a few ways for council to assist families in a really tangible way with the cost of living, and this has proven to be a quite tangible and popular way that we have been able to assist," she said.
"As I've stated before, in my opinion, we subsidise things all over the city, we subsidise the use of our sports grounds, our libraries, museum and art gallery, and this to me is no different."
The popular scheme was in the firing line after just one season, with City of Newcastle staff last month arguing the trial was financially unsustainable and unfairly subsidised people who were not Novocastrians.
The trial offered $2 entry at Beresfield, Mayfield, Stockton and Wallsend but was not offered at Lambton to prevent overcrowding and manage safety risks.
Some councillors, like Greens councillor Siobhan Isherwood, felt the trial did not go far enough, instead moving to make entry at Lambton $4 and $2 for concession card holders.
"What we have before us tonight, I'm afraid, just continues to bake in inequality once again," she said.
Others, like Labor councillor Declan Clausen, for whom making the $2 trial permanent was a cornerstone of his lord mayoral election campaign, argued the solution put forward by his colleague was financially responsible.
"Everybody in Newcastle has the ability to access a $2 pool," he said.
"In fact, if this motion is successful, they'll have the ability to access $2 entry at four pools, and if they hold a state or Commonwealth concession card, they will be able to get in cheaper at Lambton.
"Ideally, and end state, I would like to see the cheaper access at Lambton go further, but I think we also need to be cognisant of the financial impacts."
Despite initially supporting Cr Isherwood's move to extend a $4 fee to Lambton, independent councillor Mark Brooker later sought to wait until 2030 when the existing contract with pools operator Bluefit ends.
Cr Brooker said for ratepayers who do not attend the pools, the $2 trial was "less of a success" and more of a "cost burden".
His amendment, which would have still offered $3.30 adult entry at Beresfield and $2 entry to concession card holders and children 12 and under next season, had the support of Liberal councillors.
Councillor Callum Pull said when contract variations are made, there is no competition and "the company simply names their price".
"It's been made extraordinarily clear to councillors that we have two choices: we go into deficit and we stay in deficit, or there will have to be services that will have to be cut," he said.
City of Newcastle estimated including Lambton pool in $2 entry would increase the cost across all five pools to $1.75 million in 2026/27.
The council will need to account for cheaper entry fees in the September quarterly review and will need to find ways to balance the budget.
