ALPENA — It appears a millage request to help stabilize finances at Plaza Pool will not be on the ballot anytime soon.

At a special workshop on Wednesday, the Alpena County Board of Commissioners considered a request from pool management company Synchronization Management to put a 0.25-mill property tax request on the ballot in an upcoming election. That tax would cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $12.50 per year.

After much discussion, however, commissioners decided such a request, when the pool is already receiving a significant portion of funding from the county’s Youth and Recreation millage, was not the way to go.

Instead, some of the commissioners believe higher allocations from the Youth and Rec millage should be allocated for the pool, because, when that tax was passed in 2012, it was sold in part as a millage for the pool.

Commissioner John Kozlowski said he couldn’t support a pool-specific millage because he believed it would be double-dipping taxpayers. He said there have been a lot of millage requests made over the last several years and more are on the horizon. To add another for the pool would not be fair to property owners, he said.

“We are millaging the residents of the county every time we turn around — it feels like it at least — and I’ve heard from people that that is how they feel,” Kozlowski said. “If we had another millage for the pool, it would almost be like double taxation, because of what it already gets from the Youth and Rec millage.”

Commissioner Ronald McDonald said the Youth and Rec millage was sold to the people as a way to save the pool and, although it has received a bulk of the funds, a majority of the money is going to projects that some could debate don’t fall under the Youth and Recreation banner.

“The thing that I’m saddened about is everybody is dipping their fingers into that millage and it is not being distributed right,” McDonald said. “In the past, it may have been working, but now it needs to change. I don’t think we need a new millage. I think, if the pool is such a precious item, we should be supporting it with the money we are already bringing in, as opposed to all these organizations getting money from it.”

Commissioners each appoint a representative from their districts to the Youth and Rec Committee that doles out funds from that tax. Commissioners intend to ask committee members if an increase in allocation is possible.

Commissioners Brad McRoberts and Marty Thomson shared Kozlowski and McDonald’s opinion, but Commissioner Brenda Fournier had a little different view.

She said she was not in favor of a millage, but, because the finances of the pool are in dire shape and its future clouded, it may be best to lay all of the cards on the table and see if residents want the pool.

“If this is the only way to keep the pool open, then it should be up to the people to decide,” she said. “I would hate to lose the pool, but we’re wasting county funds on it right now.”

Synchronizations has already said it intends to request $95,000 from the Youth and Rec committee from the 2020 allocations.

For the last three years, the county has had to allocate money to the pool to keep it from having a negative fund balance and avoid the state becoming involved in the matter. A monthly bond payment of $2,063 for improvements done to the pool to reduce energy costs has been dwindling the pool’s cash reserves.

The News reported Monday that the pool’s future is in question because of high costs and lower-than-expected revenue. In addition to the millage, pool officials have considered closing the pool part-time or shutting it down all together.

County Treasurer Kim Ludlow said that, if the pool closes, the bond payment would still need to be paid by the county, as well as utility, maintenance, and insurance bills.

Kozlowski brought up the possibility of the county managing the pool on its own, but Ludlow said that would cost the county more . The county pays Synchronizations $150,000 a year, which covers payroll and other management costs.

Synchronizations owner Norm Sommerfeld declined to comment.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.