WHETHER the city's $2 entry trial will sink or swim remains to be seen as Newcastle councillors decide to revisit the issue pending a public briefing in June.
The trial was on the chopping block after just one season, with City of Newcastle arguing the scheme was financially unsustainable and unfairly subsidised people who were not Novocastrians.
Proving hugely popular at Beresfield, Mayfield, Stockton and Wallsend, councillors pushed for more information on what trade-offs might be needed to keep the trial and possibly extend cheaper entry to Lambton pool.
Others, like independent councillor Mark Brooker, felt $2 entry for all should not be forever.
"It's interesting that every councillor gets up and says the $2 trial was a raging success. Of course it was a great success if you were one of the 259,000 patrons who visited one of the four selected pools for the trial," he said at Tuesday night's council meeting.
"If, however, you are a resident or ratepayer who doesn't go to our inland pools, and I would suggest this is at least half of all residents and ratepayers ... then it has been less of a success. It's been a further cost burden placed on you."
Cr Brooker said while it might seem he's had a "change of heart", he felt it was fiscally irresponsible to continue the trial indefinitely but would like select groups to receive it.
A report to councillors floated other options, including restricting the $2 entry fee to Newcastle residents experiencing financial hardship or concession card holders.
That model is estimated to cost about $21,000 each year, while expanding it to pensioners and seniors would cost about $36,000.
Council staff warned continuing the scheme next season would require at least another $542,000 in subsidies and slash City of Newcastle's forecast operating surplus for 2026/27 by 40 per cent.
The widely-spruiked trial introduced this summer saw average attendance at the four pools jump 46 per cent compared to the previous year, with more than 259,000 visits.
Visitor numbers at Wallsend and Beresfield surged by more than 52 per cent.
Labor councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said the trial was proof that when the council reduces barriers to entry, more people participate.
"We do not expect that every community asset will fully recover its operational costs, because these facilities provide broader social health and wellbeing benefits to the community," she said.
Cr Winney-Baartz pointed out that the council already subsidises its libraries, playgrounds, sporting fields, the art gallery and the museum.
"Because we understand that public access matters, we don't question whether those visitors come from within the LGA [local government area] before allowing them to enjoy those facilities, and I would hate to see that occur," she said.
Analysis included in the report found 58 per cent of users across the four trial pools lived outside Newcastle, including 74 per cent of Beresfield patrons and 72 per cent at Stockton.
Greens councillor Charlotte McCabe said she would hate to see the council begin a culture of being "kind of mean-spirited" by setting up precedents requiring people to provide their address upon entry.
"We don't have local government areas with electric fences around them, and oftentimes people don't even know which local government area they live in," she said.
"I think it would really be a shame if that was the path that we went down, and I wouldn't support that."
Councillors laid the item on the table pending a June 9 public briefing.
