This is the week the new Waverly Aquatic Center opens for its first full year! There have been a couple of concerns/questions that have been brought up that I would like to clarify: 

1. How did the project begin?
   1. In 2018, GWAFF (Greater Waverly Area Foundation Fund) released a community survey about future needs. The respondents overwhelmingly agreed that a new pool was needed.
2. What was the funding plan?
   1. GWAFF was committed to raising as many funds as possible with private donations and grants. GWAFF also urged the City of Waverly to partner (public/private partnership), and they agreed. In May 2020, there were two initiatives added to the primary election ballot. The first was a $3.5M bond (loan) to pay for the the construction of a new aquatic center. The second was a ½ cent sales tax to pay for said bond. Both initiatives passed.
3. What was the cost of the aquatic center?
   1. Like everything in the world, the total cost rose after the pandemic. All in all, this project cost around $6.5M. However, this cost was paid for through a myriad of funding sources – $800,000+ in private donations raised through GWAFF, $3.5M bond, $1M+ in grants awarded to the City of Waverly. Additional sales tax revenues were used for the demo of the old pool, paving the driveway, moving the baseball field, and lighting.
4. Were property taxes used to pay for the pool?
   1. Property taxes were not used in the construction of the pool. Like all city departments, including the old pool facility, maintenance and operations are paid through property taxes.
5. What is the difference between property taxes and sales taxes?
   1. Property taxes are tied to the value of property you own (land, buildings, houses), while sales taxes are tied to the value of goods and services you buy (gas, clothes, electronics).
6. The pool is still too small.
   1. This facility almost doubled the capacity of the previous facility. Besides capacity, the focus group formed at the beginning of this project wanted to ensure the expansion of amenities to fit all ages, demographics, and needs. The focus group wanted to establish a facility where everyone patronizing the center could enjoy it.  
7. The pool should have been indoors.
   1. This idea was discussed and analyzed. The committee even had a meeting with the Lincoln YMCA, which was not interested in building or partnering with Waverly at this time. The amount needed would have been closer to $20M and the operations, maintenance, and staffing for year-round access would have been astronomically higher than today’s budget.
8. I thought we were out of water. Why are we filling a pool?
   1. The Waverly Aquatic Center takes 251,000 gallons of water to fill (once per year). Peak daily usage for the community last spring/summer was 1.5M gallons. Our Parks and Rec Director also asked to include an eco-friendly filter system in the new facility. Long story short, if we had included the old type of sand filter system, we would use 112,000 gallons per month. This new system uses 4,200 gallons per month by cleaning, sterilizing, and reusing pool water.
   1.  The Waverly City Council recently approved a new ordinance that asks residents to conserve water, as several scientists and professionals urged us to do. Thanks to Mother Nature, we are receiving a great amount of rain this spring. If we conserve water where we can instead of putting 75% of our daily water consumption on our yards, we will be in a great position for this year and the future.