By Emily Burleigh

The Leesville Leisure Pool closes for the season at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1. This could also be the year it closes for good.

At the Leesville City Council meeting on Monday,  Mayor Rick Allen said the city is working to develop a proposal to replace the pool with a splash pad.

He called the pool an expensive “losing battle” that leaks so much water that the water valve is left “cracked open” to keep the pool filled.

“We add as much water as it loses a day,” Allen said. “The pool was never a money-making venture. It was always to provide a service, but as it gets older and older, the maintenance becomes higher and higher.

“We know the people enjoy the pool, but at some point it will just cost too much to keep it operational.”

A splash pad would cost Leesville less. Maintenance costs are lower, and the city would save money on labor. The splash pad does not need lifeguards, which are difficult to hire and retain, Allen noted.

The other option is to replace the pool, which could cost “four times” as much as a splash pad to install and wouldn’t reduce maintenance and staff costs.

The city is looking at the financial details of the replacement to create a proposal to be presented to the council, he said.

Tax renewal

The citizens of Leesville will vote on a sewer maintenance tax renewal in November.

Allen, who is the chairman of the Solutions to Achieve Viability and Efficiency (SAVE) task force, said that a healthy sewer maintenance sales tax is critical for a municipality’s financial stability.

“Every time that I pull up their audits and start looking to try to find solutions to help them to get in the financial situation that the City of Leesville is currently in, you can go straight to the sewer department and find the deficit in everyone,” he said. “It’s just the nature of the beast.”

He said that Leesville is “lucky” to be in the black the past few years, especially in the sewer department.

The tax has been in place since 2007. If not renewed, there will be an automatic $500,000 deficit in the sewer department, he said.

“We cannot afford for that to happen.”