Sales tax to replace 56-year-old Mission pool on November ballot

The Mission pool will be open for tours on the next two Saturdays to show the maintenance challenges that led to the sales tax proposal.

A new swimming pool for Mission will be one of the issues decided on the November ballot along with all of the candidate races. The proposal would replace the city’s current aging pool, built in 1956.

The pool will be open for public tours Saturday so Mission residents can see the physical and structural problems appearing at the pool.

The question for Mission residents will be whether to approve a 3/8 cent city sales tax that will be dedicated to parks and recreation funding.

The first intent of that new sales tax will be to support a bond issue that would pay for a new swimming pool complex at its current site near city hall. The money could be used for any of the parks and recreation facilities. A pool task force originally recommended a 1/4 cent tax, estimated to be enough to finance the pool. The city council later bumped the proposal to 3/8 cent to have money for other parks and recreation needs.

The current pool was built in 1956 with the last renovations in 1995-96. With a number of expensive maintenance issues looming, the task force concluded the best option was to replace the pool entirely. Task force member Anne O’Leary said it is expected the new pool could be built at the same site at the end of the next summer season and be open in spring of 2014 in Anderson Park.

The pool will be open for tours 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and on Oct. 27. The pumps, gutters and piping that are causes for concern will be open for viewing. The city also has posted information about the pool on its website.

The new tax would raise about $744,000 annually. The funds non needed to repay a bond issue would be used to support maintenance or improvements at the Sylvester Powell Jr. Community Center or the other city parks and the priorities would be set by the council. If the new tax is approved by voters, Mission’s portion of sales tax charged in the city would be 1.625 percent of sales. The dedicated sales tax would terminate in 10 years, according to the ballot language.