Compromise Could Save Simi Pool : Recreation: Deal by parks and school officials may keep facility open in winter by splitting $28,500 funding shortfall.

Simi Valley parks and school officials have reached tentative agreement on a plan to keep the pool open at Rancho Simi Community Park during the winter by splitting a $28,500 funding shortfall, officials said.

The stopgap compromise would prevent the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District from having to shut down the pool from September to June as previously planned because of state budget cuts, officials said.

“This was a short-term Band-Aid,” said Judy Barry, board president of the Simi Valley Unified School District.

During next school year, officials will continue to seek alternative funding sources for the 50-meter pool’s operation and maintenance, such as fund-raising events and corporate sponsorships, said Debi Schultze, a park district board member.

“We had to come up with something because we have to pass our budget in the next month,” Schultze said.

The school district already pays $40,000 per year toward the pool’s $107,000 annual cost because high school swim and diving teams use the facility for practices and competitions. Other funds come from private clubs that use the pool and daily admission fees during the busy summer months.

“It’s not just the swim teams that benefit from this pool,” Barry said. “Senior citizens use it all year long, and the parks district runs programs out there. This is providing for our community.”

Parks officials originally estimated that $70,000 in additional money was needed to keep the pool open during the off-season. But in a later analysis, parks officials subtracted from that figure the money that would be lost by shutting down the pool for nine months.

The pool is used year-round by high school swim teams and the 200-member Conejo Simi Aquatics team in the evenings and by senior citizens in the mornings. Summer is its busiest time, with children on vacation and looking for fun.

In addition to fund raising, the officials also discussed leasing the pool to a private operator, as the park district does with its two golf courses in Simi Valley. But it was agreed that fees would probably be raised too much if a for-profit operator ran the pool, Schultze said.

The parks district board is scheduled next Thursday to consider the plan to split the deficit with the school district. The school board probably will approve the plan on July 20, Barry said.

However, even if the pool remains open during the winter, it probably will not be enough to save the swimming and water polo teams at Simi Valley High School, Barry said. A recommendation to disband the programs also will be considered July 20.

The programs are slated to end, because of coaching turnover and low participation, Barry said. The teams had practiced at the pool in the mornings. Instead, those students would be allowed to transfer to Royal High School, which practices afternoons at the pool.

The school district does not have an Olympic-size pool of its own. A smaller pool at Simi High is in disrepair and has been shut down for the past few years.