The Coronado Aquatic Center opened in 2006 and includes an outdoor 13,000-square-foot competition pool, a 4,000-square-foot leisure and instructional pool. Counsilman-Hunsaker was retained by the city to conduct an operational study of the aquatic center. The study identified areas and opportunities where the aquatic center can achieve financially stable operations, increase pool usage, and decrease the current subsidy from the General Fund.
The study was completed over a 90-day period and consisted of multiple site visits by the Counsilman-Hunsaker staff. Counsilman-Hunsaker used an audit approach, which included an analysis of the existing operation, expense and revenue analysis, existing facility analysis, market analysis and benchmark against other aquatics centers across the San Diego region and the country. The city also requested that Counsilman-Hunsaker prepare a business operations plan based on the audit’s findings and staff input.
In reviewing the possible reduction of expenses, the fixed nature of expenses for Aquatic Center operations leaves little room to reduce expenses. However, the study provided numerous recommendations for the city to consider as it seeks to increase pool revenues and decrease subsidies while still providing high quality swim programs at a reasonable cost to the community of Coronado.