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The cost for a new city swimming pool should not exceed $2.5 million when the question of issuing bonds for the project goes before voters April 1, the Eudora City Council agreed at its meeting Monday night.

Cutting back the project from its estimated $2.6 million cost will mean cutting several items now but laying the groundwork for their inclusion at a later date, or it will mean offering them as alternates. Council members agreed the 900-square-foot meeting room and the drop slide would be likely candidates for paring back the design.

"I would rather have a pool with a good recreation area than a facility with things some people want," Council member Tom Pyle said of the meeting room.

Council member Willene Blackburn said she thought having at least one slide was an important selling point for the pool, and Eudora High School senior April Reno, who said she worked at a summer camp with a pool slide, echoed a slide's draw for children.

Mayor Ron Conner said he was glad to hear that, because the city was talking about giving pool visitors wristbands for access to the slides for a fee.

It was Conner's suggestion that $2.5 million be the cap for the project. However, at a study session earlier in the month, the Council, city officials and designers doubted savings of $100,000 would change the minds

of those opposed to a pool. But Pyle, who wasn't at the study session, said he thought a drop in cost could make a difference to some.

Yet if the pool gets built without some of the features, like a thrilling "drop" slide, City Administrator Mike Yanez said the city could look to corporate sponsorship or community fund-raising to erect a second slide.

With the exception of cuts necessary to bring the cost down to $2.5 million, the Council agreed the existing proposal was the best way to go. Conner said ideally the city would have both an indoor and outdoor facility, but with budget limitations an outdoor pool with a 30- to 40-year life expectancy was preferable.

Yanez said the estimated cost for the pool, designed to serve age groups from toddlers to senior citizens, was conservative and took into account inflation, a higher interest rate, and an unfriendly bidding scenario, meaning it could cost less than anticipated.

To pay off the bonds, the Council agreed a 20-year debt service plan was ideal and that the ballot should ask voters whether they would also favor a half-cent sales tax. City Attorney Jerry Cooley said because of legal stipulations the sales tax couldn't be declared outright to pay for the pool. The city would have to show the sales tax could pay for the pool in its entirety, which it couldn't, Cooley said.

Rather, voters could pass the tax knowing in good faith the city would earmark the money for the pool debt during its budgetary process each year. Cooley suggested the city add the caveat if the pool bond failed the sales tax -- if passed -- would be voided. He also suggested the city add language to ensure the tax would "sunset" as soon as the pool was paid off.

The city's financial adviser for the project, Charles Young, had run estimates assuming the project would not exceed $2.6 million. With that in mind, Young said a 20-year debt service with a 4.7 percent average interest rate meant property owners with a $100,000 home could expect an additional $93 or so dollars in taxes annually. With a half-cent sales tax -- assuming it would bring in $83,500 annually -- Young said the same property owners would pay about $50 in additional taxes. He said he would work on finding out how much taxpayers would owe with the lowered $2.5 million cost.

At its Feb. 10 meeting the Council will have a public hearing for the bond issue and will straighten out the language for the April ballot. The Council meets at 7:30 p.m. at Eudora City Hall, 4 E. Seventh St.

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