The Pool You Voted For
In November 2025, Jersey Village residents voted to build a new municipal pool. That pool — Clark Henry Pool — is now under construction, with a targeted completion of April 15, 2027, in time for the 2027 season.
Building it was the decision voters made. The FY2027 budget contains the next decision, and this one belongs to the City Council: what does it cost to get in, and how much of the pool's operating cost do residents cover at the gate versus through their taxes?
The pool will lose money. That's the point.
Running the pool costs about $220,000 a year — lifeguard wages, chemicals, supplies, maintenance, and the rest. No realistic fee schedule covers all of that. A community pool is an amenity, not a business, and the General Fund will subsidize it no matter what Council decides.
The only real question is how big that subsidy is. Staff modeled five fee levels, from keeping the old "historic" rates to a full "market" rate that charges nonresidents double:
| Scenario | Annual Revenue | General Fund Subsidy |
|---|---|---|
| Historic Rates | $54,425 | $165,575 |
| 40% Cost Recovery | $89,761 | $130,239 |
| 50% Cost Recovery | $113,362 | $106,638 |
| 60% Cost Recovery | $133,839 | $86,161 |
| Market Rates (2× nonresident) | $109,485 | $110,515 |
Read that subsidy column as "how much of the $220,000 the taxpayers pick up." At historic rates, the City covers $165,575 a year. Push to 60% cost recovery and the subsidy drops to $86,161 — but daily admission and season passes cost noticeably more.
One counterintuitive finding: the Market Rates scenario actually brings in less revenue than 50% recovery ($109,485 vs. $113,362). Charging nonresidents double sounds lucrative, but the City has seen this before — in the last year the old pool charged a nonresident premium, revenue fell 20% because nonresidents simply stopped coming. Higher prices don't always mean more money.
The FY2027 budget pencils in $47,000 of new pool revenue as a placeholder — $35,000 in memberships, $7,000 in swim lessons, $5,000 in rentals — but that's preliminary, pending Council's decision on the fee schedule.
The fee schedule on the table
Here's what each recovery level would actually charge. "Historic" is what the old pool charged; the recovery columns are staff's modeled options.
| Fee Category | Historic | 40% | 50% | 60% | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resident daily admission | $3–4 | $6 | $8 | $9 | $7 |
| Nonresident daily admission | $10–14 | $12 | $15 | $17 | $14 |
| Resident individual season pass | $45 | $101 | $126 | $151 | $125 |
| Nonresident individual season pass | $90 | $201 | $252 | $302 | $250 |
| Resident family season pass | $105 | $181 | $227 | $272 | $225 |
| Nonresident family season pass | $410 | $362 | $453 | $543 | $450 |
| Swim lessons — resident (per session) | $60 | $41 | $51 | $61 | $50 |
| Swim lessons — nonresident (per session) | $60 | $81 | $101 | $121 | $100 |
| Pool rental — resident | $250 | $435 | $543 | $652 | $540 |
| Pool rental — nonresident | $325 | $869 | $1,086 | $1,303 | $1,080 |
| Swim team practice (per hour) | — | $17 | $21 | $25 | $20 |
Staff notes that Council could treat cost recovery as a goal to grow into — start lower to build attendance, then raise recovery over time as the pool becomes an established part of residents' summers.
Swim teams get their own framework
Separate from general admission, staff proposes a hybrid model for organized swim teams:
- Jersey Village-based teams: $20/hour for practice, $200 per meet. Based on historical usage, the Jersey Village Stars would pay about $4,420 for their season.
- Non-Jersey Village teams: $30/hour for practice, $300 per meet.
- All teams: a $30-per-season nonresident swimmer fee, consistent with peer agencies. Any use outside the April–October season, when the pool must be heated, is billed to the team at actual cost.
The bottom line
The pool is coming — that decision is made. What Council chooses now is a values question dressed up as a fee schedule: keep the gate cheap and accept a bigger subsidy, or charge closer to cost and ask swimmers to carry more of the load. There's no wrong answer, but there is a real tradeoff, and it's worth roughly $80,000 a year between the cheapest and most aggressive options.
For how the pool fits into the City's overall finances, start with the budget overview.
Source: City of Jersey Village FY2026-2027 Proposed Budget, filed with the City Secretary July 1, 2026. Fee schedules and recovery scenarios are proposed and subject to Council direction and final adoption in August 2026.