Princeville pool closes pending consideration of a park district - 25 News Now

PEORIA (25News Now) - Limited use of the Princeville Aquatic Center and its increasing expenses proved to be a financial drain for the Village of Princeville. “The cost was just too much to swallow this year,” said Jeff Troutman Princeville Village President. Costs like a rising minimum wage, materials, and expensive upgrades led to the Village Board voting unanimously in March to close the pool for good.

“Spending that much money for a facility that’s only in operation for two and a half months out of the year, the board just felt it was not a good oversight of taxpayer money,” said Troutman. This summer, the overall financial loss was expected to be more than double what it normally is. “Instead of an overall lose at the end of the season of 28,000 to 40,000 dollars, we were projecting something closer to 80,000 to 100,000 dollar loss.”

Neighbors expressed that they’re sad to see it go. Princeville resident Pat Stahl said, ”It’s been around for a long time, and I would like to see it remain open.” She said added, “All of my children used the pool as they were growing up in the Princeville area. A lot of my grandchildren have been in and out of the pool a number of times.”

But there’s a chance, the lifeguards could return to duty and the pool could reopen. ″It may be a time that we might be able to get the support and take the parks out of the village and the swimming pool, and create a park district,” said Troutman. To get the idea of creating a Park District on the primary ballot next spring would take a petition, to start. Then they’ll need members to run for the future board. “There would also have to be 5 people in the community that would need to step up and agree to be the first board of directors for the park district.”

If the vote to create a park district passes, then the aquatic center could potentially reopen. Troutman added, ”It would be a possibility that it could open as soon as next year again if it was created. Not a guarantee, it may be the 2025 season before they can get up and running.”

The petition to get the creation of a park district on the tax referendum ballot hasn’t been created yet. It’s up to neighbors to do so, then get over 100 signatures and bring it to the village board. Then most importantly, the community will need to vote on it in March.

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Princeville pool closes pending consideration of a park district - 25 News Now
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