By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
In order to cover the expense of operating and opening the city pool during the summer, the City of Great Bend transferred an additional $75,000 from cash reserves in 2020. In the upcoming budget, the city plans to transfer $115,000. Seeing that increase in a five-year span, the Great Bend City Council discussed the possibility of raising admission fees and concession prices at the Wetlands Waterpark.
Mayor Cody Schmidt said his children go to the pool often and felt there is room to bump up the prices.
"The fees are really fair," said Schmidt. "They're cheap. I think a candy bar is $1.50. I don't think you can go to Walmart and buy a candy bar for $1.50. I don't see a huge increase. It's not something easy for anyone to do, but I think we're probably going to have to look at that."
The Wetlands Waterpark is open every day from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Daily admission is $3 for children ages 3-to-17. Adults ages 18 and older are charged $4.
"I think we need to be cautious on how much we increase it," said councilman Cory Urban. "I would like to able to do something else with the pool at some point before we really look at revising the prices to match other communities."
While the main pool itself opened in the 1930s, a major renovation in 2005 added the concession area, several slides, tipping bucket and other features.