El Paso Matters – El Paso pays millions more for city pools despite rising revenue

For the second straight summer, the Sea Devils — a city of El Paso summer swim team based in the Northeast — are without their primary pool at Veterans Park, leaving parents scrambling to find places for their children to practice.

“It’s such a big inconvenience, especially because most of the Northeast community – we are working parents – we’re a working community, so, we get off work at 5 (p.m.), push to get home at 5:30, pick up the kids and take them to practice,” said Evone Rosales, a member of Advocates for Quality Urban Aquatics, whose 10-year-old son is a Sea Devil.

The 48-year-old Veterans Aquatic Center, 5301 Salem Drive, closed for repairs in June 2025 and may not reopen until the fall. That’s particularly disheartening for the Sea Devils and other Northeast residents who have seen two other neighborhood pools close in the last decade: Nations Tobin Outdoor Pool in 2016 and the Grandview Aquatic Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Northeast residents received a bit of respite Tuesday when the City Council unanimously approved a lease with a new nonprofit to operate a city-owned pool previously run by the YMCA of El Paso. It’s unclear when the new operator will take over, but the YMCA lease ends Friday, May 15 – a little more than a week before the official summer swimming season opens during Memorial Day weekend.

The pool closures largely fall under a 2014 master plan that called for a shift away from aging basic rectangular pools to be replaced with more versatile aquatic centers and regional natatoriums. 

Now, city leaders will weigh a new parks master plan that could reshape how – and where – residents access swimming facilities. The plan, expected to be completed this fall, will look at which facilities should be expanded, upgraded, repurposed or closed.

Across its aquatics system, El Paso spends far more than it collects in revenue, with operating costs consistently exceeding what users pay. Over the past 10 years, revenues increased by 91% while expenses went up by 178%, with a large portion of it going toward personnel, an El Paso Matters analysis of city aquatics financial data show. 

The result is that the city is having to subsidize aquatics at an increasing rate. The shortfall  between revenues and expenses for city aquatics programs has jumped from $1.7 million to $5.3 million from 2016 to 2025. Much of that deficit came from the city-owned water parks that began opening in 2021.

“The city plans for aquatics, including water parks, as a quality of life service, similar to libraries, parks and cultural amenities. These services are not designed to be fully self-supporting and are budgeted with a combination of user fees and general fund support,” Robert Cortinas, deputy city manager and chief financial officer, said in an emailed statement to El Paso Matters.

Cortinas said several factors have contributed to higher operating costs, including “staffing needs, market-driven wage adjustments, and utility increases. At the same time, attendance and revenue have also grown, helping offset a portion of those costs.”

Attendance at city pools rose after facilities fully reopened after the pandemic from about 220,000 in 2021 to nearly 690,000 in 2025 – an increase of more than 200%. 

Water park attendance has grown by 34% between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025 and has not seen the same sharp growth as pool usage, city aquatics attendance data shows.

The 2014 master plan urged the city to move toward multi-generational aquatic centers that would focus on both leisure and fitness – with consultants saying the centers could generate enough in gate revenue to meet their annual operational costs. It did not recommend water parks on the scale that the city developed; the study recommended “mini-water parks” as part of new aquatic centers.

Related: See what economic pressures the city is facing ahead of the next budget cycle

Ben Fyffe, managing director of quality of life for the city government, said though water parks generate more revenue than other city services, they weren’t expected to be self-sufficient. The admission fees for the water parks range from $12 to $18; while admission to city pools ranges from $2 to $3. Both offer party rentals and memberships.

“Ultimately, these (water parks) were never intended to break even,” Fyffe said. “No city service really is – otherwise it would be more than likely inaccessible for our community.”

Fyffe said the city’s four water parks were intended to be regional and offer a wider variety of amenities versus a neighborhood-scaled pool that draws primarily nearby residents. The regional approach is also true of libraries or community centers, he added.

The city now operates 13 pools – including two natatoriums that opened in 2018 and 2021 under the quality of life bond approved by voters in 2012. It also operates nine spray parks and owns four water parks operated under contract by Destination El Paso.

A decade ago, the city operated 14 pools, including four outdoor pools, before it moved away from standalone traditional pools and into water parks with amenities such as slides and lazy rivers. Funded in part by 2012 bonds – though they were not spelled out at the time – the city began opening its four regional water parks in 2021.

As the city began implementing its 2015 aquatics capital plan, three of its outdoor pools were permanently closed: Nations Tobin Aquatic Center in the Northeast, Lionel Forti in the Lower Valley and the Chelsea Swimming Pool in Central El Paso, which was razed and replaced with a small park. 

The plan at the time called for a family aquatic center to replace Nations Tobin – leading to the opening of Camp Cohen. Under that plan, Veterans pool was to be operational for the next decade with only minor repairs to keep functioning before eventual replacement with a regional aquatic center. 

The Chelsea and Lionel Forti pools in 2016 were each set to get $4 million renovations, but the plan was ultimately scrapped since the facilities had outlived their useful life.   

Now, the sole outdoor pool operated by the city is the Pavo Real Aquatic Center in the Lower Valley. 

Grandview, an indoor pool, was recommended to receive spray features and an expanded deck. Though labeled as a high priority, it ultimately closedand is in need of costly repairs, which the city has not budgeted.

As the city maintains that network of aging pools and the newer water parks, an outside firm is working on an updated master plan to guide future investments and operations.

The city hired HALFF Associates Inc. for $580,000 in August 2025 to develop the new Parks and Recreation master plan that includes the aquatics facilities. The Richardson, Texas-based consulting firm will conduct a needs assessment, inventory and conditions assessment and draft a development plan. 

The conditions assessment does not include structural, mechanical, electrical, HVAC or plumbing inspections, according to the scope of services. A draft and final report are tentatively scheduled for September, according to a city presentation.

HALFF also conducted the 2014 study, which led to the 2015 master plan under which the city developed the water parks, spray parks and two Olympic-sized competitive swimming pools or natatoriums. 

Several projects, including the natatoriums, were funded with 2012 quality of life bonds, though certificates of obligation – debt that doesn’t require voter approval – were issued after the scope of projects grew following community feedback.

“The plan evolved straight (and) correctly, like they (HALFF) said,” Paul Caballero, Parks and Recreation director, told El Paso Matters. “They were proposing new facilities for swim teams and high school teams and across the board (for) constituents that use aquatic facilities and competition facilities. That’s why they built the natatoriums.”

Caballero said he realizes many of the existing aquatics facilities are decades old and is looking forward to what the master plan will recommend for the next 10 years.

“We need to modernize and get some love to them,” Caballero said.

Members of the Advocates for Quality Urban Aquatics said they want to ensure the Northeast is not overlooked in the new master plan.

“What we’re really looking to do, is to increase accessibility to aquatics in the Northeast not just for our youth, but for our triathletes, for our seniors – we have a very large senior community that really enjoys aquatics and utilizes aquatics,” Wayne Ballow, an AQUA member said during a meeting with El Paso Matters.

The YMCA in April decided to end its lease with the city after the two entities failed to agree to new terms, rent and repair costs. The YMCA had operated the city-owned facility known as the Bowling Branch, 5509 Will Ruth Ave., under a $1 a year agreement since 1960. 

“Unfortunately, the financial implications (of the new terms) didn’t meet our needs,” YMCA CEO Gilda Gil said.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved entering into a new lease with the Carl L. Robinson HEAT Retreat, a nonprofit named after the late Northeast city representative founded by Robert and Sarah Osterland. The lease calls for an initial five-year term at a discount rate of $12,000 per year. Under the lease, the nonprofit would have to make some renovations to the facility.

“We don’t really have a working pool right now in the Northeast. I know the city is working hard with getting Veterans together…but in the meantime…we needed a solution,” Sarah Osterland said. She said her family had discussed taking over the facility after hearing from dozens of Northeast residents about the imminent closure.

It’s unclear when the nonprofit will take over the facility and whether it will have to close by week’s end before reopening again.

The future of the Northeast-area pools remains uncertain, but the families in AQUA are mobilizing their efforts to gain support for city-owned and operated aquatic facilities in the area.

“What’s going to happen?” said Brenda Romero, recreation programs manager for the aquatics division. “I’m not sure, because they’re not done with the master plan, but hopefully with the community input that attended the meetings, something positive can come out of that – so, what is the future of those pools? I’m not sure yet.”

The post El Paso pays millions more for city pools despite rising revenue appeared first on El Paso Matters.

 Read: Read More