size of pool subsidy made clear

How many swimmers and how many lanes does MDAC use on average on a daily basis? The average seems to be 50-60 swimmers per day, but how many lanes does that require? In Hialeah at $45 per swimmer per month an average of 50 swimmers would bring in 27k. At MDC at $8 per lane per hour for 4 lanes would bring in 30k per year. Dade rates of $7 per lane per hour would bring in $26,208 per year for four lanes, by my figures. IF they use more than 4 lanes it would be more, of course. And doesnt begin to address the revenues from meets, of course, as that should add several thousands more in income we should receive. Using 4 lanes and only 50 swimmers per day is using conservative figures, of course, but it will give an idea of what we SHOULD be receiving from renting our pool for practices.

pool figures emerge

How many swimmers and how many lanes does MDAC use on average on a daily basis? The average seems to be 50-60 swimmers per day, but how many lanes does that require? In Hialeah at $45 per swimmer per month an average of 50 swimmers would bring in 27k. At MDC at $8 per lane per hour for 4 lanes would bring in 30k per year. Dade rates of $7 per lane per hour would bring in $26,208 per year for four lanes, by my figures. IF they use more than 4 lanes it would be more, of course. And doesnt begin to address the revenues from meets, of course, as that should add several thousands more in income we should receive. Using 4 lanes and only 50 swimmers per day is using conservative figures, of course, but it will give an idea of what we SHOULD be receiving from renting our pool for practices.

pool audit needed

For ALL of the reasons noted previously- missing daily logs, liberal uses of whiteout on the daily logs that ARE there; erratic and inconsistent documentation on the daily logs; unapproved handshake deals for swim practices that are valued at pennies on the dollar and amount to subsidies for private enterprises; the questionable legality of the handshake deals; highly questionable annual revenue numbers; improper taping of pool employees; lack of controls in place to properly document admissions; annual revenue numbers that the City Manager says he has NO idea how they were derived, meets not billed for (nor apparently collected), back rents that have been allowed to be over two years in arrears... the list goes on and on. It is for all of these reasons I am asking the Council to initiate an outside, independent audit of the pool and all of its operations. Dr. Mel Johnson

fair market value, or not

The residents and taxpayers are paying OVER 300k per year to keep the pool open year-round. Yet somehow, the City Manager sees fit to give a 100-strong private swim team HUGE discount to use our pool, in direct disregard of the stated Councils standard fees, and amounts to PENNIES on the dollar of the actual worth. The HUGE discounts come right out of the taxpayers pocket into the private swim team’s pocket! $1100 a month, at least, for YEARS! There are NO CONTRACTS, contrary to the City Managers initial opinion, NO use agreements, just a secret handshake deal that nobody knows about. Why has the Mayor and Council allowed this to go on for YEARS? As for charges at other pools, it is by lane for teams. At MDC there are two or three club teams practicing at the same time. They charge $8 per 25 yd. lane per hour. Miami Dade charges $7 per lane per hour for short course or $9 per hour for 50 meters. Hialeah charges $45 per month per swimmer. It will be interesting to see what this supposed contract will propose as fair market value for practices and meets. Perhaps even more interesting will be the discussion and the voting.

lowball estimates?

If the claimed revenues for 07-08 were $2150 and $4800 for the year before, that would NOT even account for the Rip Tide revenues that WERE probably actually collected over that period! NOT to mention the possible $2400 a year from MDAC, the $750 a day pool rental fee for meets, the $1500 a season from Columbus and Reagan HS, GMAC meets, district meets, or private parties. Where is ALL this revenue reflected? Of course, if it REALLY wasn’t collected, the question would have to be, WHY NOT? If it WAS collected and disappeared, the State Attorney should be notified. Is it possible that they purposefully lowball the estimates every year so that when the revenues exceed their ridiculously low estimates they have a reason to celebrate and give themselves a raise? When are the REAL pool revenues tabulated and reflected? Theres still thousands of dollars unaccounted for.

still no list of Springs swimmers on MDAC

How can it be more than ten weeks after it was requested, that we still do NOT have a verifiable roster of Springs kids on the MDAC club? If the MDAC claim of 15 to 30 Miami Springs residents is true they should have NO problem proving that too, by providing a verifiable roster for the past three years (to account for seasonality)! Out of the 100 swimmers registered to MDAC only the Miami Springs residents names and contact information would be needed to confirm dates that they were active. The names of the children would NOT be necessary, just their parent’s names and contact numbers. Springs taxpayers ARE subsidizing swim practices for MDAC and we deserve to know to whom and where our monies are going!

daily logs missing

Upon my review, several logs are missing: Jan 2008 had only 3 daily logs listed- 1 7 08, 1 9 08 and 1 19 08. Pool was only open THREE DAYS during this past January? Only 9 logs were found for Feb 08, and 11 for March 08. We are open SIX days a week during those months, right? Six days times at least four weeks would be at least 24 days a month we are open, right? Where ARE those other logs? Do they exist? Did they EVER exist? I went thru ther daily log sheets the City provided myself. Does ANYBODY know? Shoddy, missing, and inconsistent recordkeeping, frequent use of whiteout, and long overdue and/or missing billing are just other signs of disorganization and poor management, at best. Dr. Mel Johnson