PORT ANGELES — Save the Pool PA raised $2,000 for the William Shore Memorial Pool on Saturday at a rummage sale at the Port Angeles Eagles Club on Penn Street.
“It was a non-stop flow of people,” said Krista Winn, Save the Pool PA chairwoman.
So far, the group has raised about $67,000 to keep the pool open through June.
The city of Port Angeles will stop funding the pool’s gap between revenue and expenses at the end of the month because of budget constraints. The money Save the Pool PA has raised will go toward keeping the pool operating through June.
The group estimates it needs at least $90,000 to accomplish that goal.
Save the Pool PA estimated in January that it would have raised $64,000 prior to the rummage sale.
“We’re right on track,” Winn said.
Aglazing Arts provided pool tiles that people could buy and paint, and Cock-A-Doodle Doughnuts sold life-saver-shaped pastries to raise money for the pool.
Some of the items sold at the rummage sale were left over from the group’s dinner/silent auction.
Concert raises $15,825
The group raised a total of $15,825 at its Lonely H pool benefit concert on Feb. 20 at the Eagles Club and dinner/silent auction at 7 Cedars Casino on Feb. 21.
The group had 169 donated items for the silent auction and sold all but 10, said Wendy Burwell, Save the Pool PA silent auction organizer.
“Almost everyone I talked to gave something,” she said.
Burwell said about 200 people showed up for that event.
“We had overwhelming support,” she said.
Dinner at the event was served by 21 local celebrity waiters, including some Port Angeles City Council members.
Awards were given to three of the waiters.
Trisa Chomica of Trisa Interiors won best table decoration.
John Pope of D.A. Davidson won best costume for his pirate outfit.
Dr. Michelle Turner of Peninsula Children’s Clinic raised the most tips, with $400.
All of the waiters’ tips were donated to the group for the pool.
Tax-deductible donations can be made at City Hall.
The group hopes to have a metropolitan park district approved by voters to fund the pool’s maintenance and operations through a property tax levy after June.
The city estimates that the pool’s funding gap will reach $400,000 this year, if the pool stays open.
Special election
Voters living within the boundaries of the Port Angeles School District would decide the issue in a special election.
The Port Angeles City Council and Clallam County Board of Commissioners in January agreed to hold a special election with the intent of mailing ballots to voters living within the school district in May.
The levy initially could range from 12 cents to 29 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation, Yvonne Ziomkowski, city finance director, said last month.
That would mean a tax of between $23 and $57 per year on a $200,000 home.
If it is approved, the levy would pay for the pool funding gap, reimbursing the city and county for the total cost of the election, administration costs — such as accounting fees — and any loans the park district would use before it receives property tax revenue in April 2010.
The pool opened in May 1962 and was expected to last about 40 years.
A $13.8 million bond issue to replace the pool with an elaborate aquatics center was turned down by voters in November 2006.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsula dailynews.com.
