Kristyn Taylor, a reader of DeepsaidWhat.com, sent this column to us today. It is her take on some of the tough decisions our elected city officials must make about Dearborn’s operating budget. In this instance, it is about whether pools should be closed in order to trim the city’s $20 million budget shortfall.

She is urging all residents to add their voice to the budget discussion at the next budget workshop on Thursday May 19th at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room.

Her column begins below:

By Kristyn Taylor

Kristyn Taylor

Have you ever had an argument with someone over the color of the sky? It’s green, they claim. With no tornado in sight on a beautiful summer day, you know the sky is actually blue. Of course, in MI our sky is usually more grey than blue, but that’s not the point! You provide scientific evidence, pictures, and affidavits of 5,000 people who swear the sky is blue, yet your friend is convinced it’s green.

The entire conversation sounds completely insane doesn’t it?

Yes, but it is eerily similar to the year-long struggle between Save our Pools (SOP) and the City of Dearborn. Last year the city threatened to close and demolish 6 of the 8 outdoor pools. The residents came out in droves to tell them they were wrong. They had videos and pictures espousing the importance of the pools to everyone who lives in Dearborn. The Mayor changed his mind and the pools opened. It began to look like everyone agreed the sky was blue.

SOP went one step further and showed how inflated the numbers were that estimated the costs of repairing and renovating the pools. According to the NSA study, it would cost the city $1,277,700 to keep up all 8 of the pools over the next 5 years (averages $255,540 per year). Ryan Woods, of SOP, gave us a more realistic version of those numbers. According to his calculations, over the next 5 years it would cost just $183,400 (averages $36,680 per year).

I am no accountant, but those numbers don’t seem to add up.

Dearborn is in the hole. That, we can all agree on. The Mayor believes that one solution to this problem is to close the small pools and demolish them. This year, closing three pools is estimated to save the city $75,000. Demolition costs $20,000 per pool. The sky is green.

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