August 16, 2012

South Burnett Regional Council will spend $235,000 to install heat pumps to complement existing solar heating at the Kingaroy, Nanango, Murgon and Wondai swimming pools.

This is part of a Budget allocation of $525,000 to upgrade the region’s pools.

Economic Development spokesman Cr Damien Tessmann said the aim of the improvements was to increase the patronage of council pools.

“They are a cost to our ratepayers and we want to make sure that money is well spent and our pools are utilised by more residents throughout the year,” he said.

“We have listened to and responded to community feedback regarding consistent water temperatures for our pools. We are happy that these new heat pumps will allow the pools to be a more comfortable temperature for more months of the year.

“We envisage that the inviting temperature of a warmer pool will encourage people of all ages to utilise them to improve swimming skills and create a healthy lifestyle.”

SBRC Manager of Business and Economic Development Phil Harding said the installation of the heat pumps would ensure the pools were sustainable and cost-effective in the long term.

“Residents in our region and visitors to the South Burnett will be able to benefit by having a warmer pool for a longer period of time. We are hoping this will encourage more people to learn to swim which results in saving lives,” he said.

“The fact that our region has heated pools will also be a drawcard for people who are looking at moving to the area. This has a flow-on benefit to our economy and businesses within our towns.”

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New Multi-Visit Tickets

The South Burnett Regional Council will soon begin offering 10-visit and 20-visit passes to Council swimming pools to supplement the season passes it issues each September.

At this week’s monthly Council meeting, Councillors were told that the Council currently offers two types of season tickets:

  • A nine-month season ticket to all pools, which covers the period September to May, and
  • An 11-month season ticket for the Nanango, Kingaroy and Murgon pools, which covers the period September to July.

Council staff said that while these season tickets were popular, they discriminated against people who either forgot to renew their season ticket on time or who moved into the area and began using the pools at some point after September.

This was because there was no way for the tickets to be issued on a pro-rata charge basis (for example, a two-thirds charge for a nine-month season ticket issued in December).

The new 10-visit and 20-visit passes would help address this problem by providing 10 per cent or 20 per cent discounts to regular pool users who fell outside normal season ticket issuing times.

The new tickets are expected to become available at all Council pools in the next few weeks.