If they could have voted on it Tuesday, Flagler County School Board members Will Furry, Christy Chong and Sally Hunt would have closed the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club to the public. They would have turned the 11-acre club gifted to the school board in 1996 into a facility for students and school programs only, with the exception of swimming pool rentals to other clubs or parties.
It may yet come to that sooner than later. Superintendent LaShakia Moore and School Board member Cheryl Massaro meanwhile put the brakes on, as the board spent its latest of more than a dozen discussions since July 2022 turbidly debating, interpreting, and disagreeing over the latest set of revenue and shortfall numbers the administration presented to them. They’ve asked for yet more numbers, which will be delivered to them by email, but Furry invited any one of his colleagues to bring up the matter at a coming meeting for potential action–meaning closure.
“Let’s get the information and then at our next workshop, if somebody wants to bring that to the next agenda, they can bring that forward,” Furry said. “But let’s have all the data so we can truly make sure that we all have the right information.”
The right information has been a central point of contention since the district administration and the board have been debating the numbers, usually with Josh Walker, the district’s point man, in the middle. He was there again Tuesday for a scheduled update on the club’s health. It wasn’t supposed to lead to another discussion about closing the place up, though Hunt was relentless about it, with Chong and Furry wondering why it was necessary to delay a decision.
“You as a board,” Moore said, “still have to make a determination of what your objective is.”
“We made a motion when we did this big discussion way back when,” Board member Cheryl Massaro said, referring to the board’s 3-2 vote last May to give the club another chance to prove itself, at least until next summer, the timeline Chong allowed. “This is the first update. There’ll be another update in July. And August we will make the final call.”
Based on the numbers Walker presented, the club is still not doing well. But those numbers were not complete, Board member Colleen Conklin argued, and if they were, the club would be near the break-even point.
The club ended the last fiscal year with revenue of $152,264, of which $25,000 was contributed by county government. (That’s part of the “legacy” spending the county now wants to possibly end.) Straight memberships produced only $48,894 in revenue. The balance was from users whose health insurance plan allows them to use the club. Each visit generates revenue for the club.
Last year the club accrued $335,000 in operating expenses. That includes $213,000 in salary and benefits and $50,000 in utilities. The operating deficit was $182,736. Advocates of the club like Conklin, Massaro and Doug Courtney, a club champion, have strongly criticized the way the district accounts for those figures. By Courtney’s accounting, including certain numbers in results in an operation $35,000 in the black. (Watch Courtney’s statement to the board Tuesday here.)
This year revenue is budgeted at $175,000, with a projected loss of $177,000. Operating costs are rising. Chlorine alone has increased 40 percent a gallon. With seven months of the fiscal year already completed, revenue to date is $82,000, not including the county’s $25,000 contribution.
The board has previously discussed closing the club to the public and running it as a student-centered operation. That would cost $136,000 “regardless,” in Moore’s description. That means there would be no membership or insurance revenue, only potential revenue from renting out the facility. In the district’s circuitous interpretation, that means that the facility would need to generate over $200,000 to break even. So whether the club is run with members or without, it would still lose money based on today’s revenue.
Yet again, however, last year’s figures and the projections did not include revenue from such clubs as the Synchro Belles, clubs that regularly rent out the facility and generate additional dollars. Lack of complete numbers had been an issue last year almost every time the board would discuss the club. It was the case again on Tuesday, as Conklin pointed out. Those rentals from the Synchro Belles alone generate about $1,200 a month, Walker said. That would defray yet another $14,000 or so. District officials say that’s considered “internal” revenue, not revenue owed the club. Conklin did not accept that.
“I know we’ve disagreed on this like a zillion times, but that money, basically they’re paying that facility to rent that space,” Conklin said. “Why in the world would we not consider that revenue for that space for that program?”
Moore said the additional numbers won’t change the fundamentals. “We can absolutely bring that information for to you. But I don’t think that it changes the $136,000 and it doesn’t change the $300,000.” She had rounded the operating costs to $300,000.
But there’s no question that usage at the facility is anemic. The club has 1,002 “members,” but the district has redefined the term to make it more expansive than it used to be. That figure includes 748 single-use entries into the club by people who take advantage of their insurance benefits, which pay for that use. Some people use the club one time that way, some use it more than once. Either way, the insurance companies pay.
Actual “basic” members in the traditional sense of the term include just seven annual adult memberships at $250 each, 30 monthly memberships at $25 a month, and 13 student monthly memberships, at $15 each. The basic membership includes use of the gym and the tennis courts, but not the swimming pool. The “aquatic plus” membership, which adds the pool and the sauna, has 14 annual members paying the $420 annual fee, and 15 paying the monthly $55 fee. Just two families are paying the annual $750 family membership.
Will Furry complained that the numbers were shifting. They were being presented based on certain premises that not all board members agreed on. For example, the $136,000 operational expense includes $8,500 to heat the pool, $40,000 to staff it. But depending on how the facility is used, especially if it’s used only as a student-focused facility, “that will offset some of that cost, and we may not need all of these line items in that scenario,” Furry said.
Conklin doesn’t disagree that the numbers are shifting. But they’re shifting the other way. She sees numbers slanted against showing what would otherwise be a much healthier balance sheet. The facility is costing $350,000 to operate with memberships, but would cost $136,000 even if it was closed to the public, she said. That leaves the district looking for $215,000 to break even. This year’s projected revenue is $175,000, not including at least about $14,000 expected from facility rentals, probably more. That brings total revenue to $189,000, what Conklin says is just about “a wash.” (The gap would be $25,000.)
“There’s not over $100,000 in loss,” Conklin said.
But the Flagler County School Board is often where facts go to die at the hands of predetermined board members. When Conklin pointed out that the colub was being run for the community as ITT had run it, and as ITT intended it to be run when it gifted it to the district (“it was gifted to us for exactly the purpose that is being used for,” Conklin said), Hunt responded: “To me that’s more opinion.” But it isn’t. (ITT had owned the property until 1996. It sold it to Commonwealth Palm Coast in March 1996, which gifted the property to the School Board that December. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that ITT had gifted the property to the board.)
“It has served its purpose but I think it’s run its course. It’s costing us way too much money,” Furry said. “There’s other costs that might also go down in here if we weren’t running it as a club.” He thinks there would be a “much bigger difference” between running the facility as just a student-centered facility as opposed to a membership facility. “All I’m saying is that at this moment from what I see of this facility, we’re still at $100,000 spread between a break even through memberships.” He had just come up with that figure.
“So do we want to keep going or do we want to address this?” Chong asked, apparently willing to subvert her own timeline.
“The other the end result in August is going to be: we’re going to lose money, and we know that today. Then why are we waiting until August?” Furry said. That’s when he invited one of his colleagues to move toward executing the club sooner at a coming meeting.
Dennis C Rathsam says
3 school members my ass…. one cant show up & the other two have done nothing constructive for your kids! Im so glad my kids went to school where the school board did wonderfull things for my kids! All 3 are college grads, 1 has a Dr degree in education. I beged him to come here to fix things….. He said it was a lost cause Pop, you cant fix stupit!
dr
CELIA PUGLIESE says
This borders the illegal given the grandfather in use by the community thru paying membership since provided by ITT! There is no other pool to replace it! What is wrong with these three board members? Shame on them! Do they have any friend developer lined up? Dont they care about Florida’s long hot summers with residents not affording their own home pool and left without that one provided by ITT for 40 years or more, for families with kids and the elderly? Please county commissioners regarding the 1.4 millions for SRO’s and the three in the school board stop this madness dispossesssing the children and the community of the little we have left after ITT was gone!
melly says
Thank you ! I know a lot of people who use this facility for their kids. I use it as a senior citizen because it’s good for me and I can’t afford my own pool!
A grand total of three members want to make the pool EXCLUSIVE. This smacks of snobbery at best and absolutely disgusts me. This is just wrong, not to mention completely tone-deaf to the community. Shame on them, if they even have the ability to feel shame. Who are they to decide such a thing? Why don’t you ask the people who actually USE the pool regularly how they feel about this?
jeffery cortland seib says
It’s really sad and poor judgement that these folks on the school board have decided that the Belle Terre swim and racquet apparently to them has no value to the community. This facility, which has been around since the dawn of Palm Coast has now to them become like an ‘old shoe’, something to be discarded. The gym, the pool, the tennis courts, sauna, etc. have been utilized by perhaps thousands over the years, and still is today. What is with them? With the growth we are experiencing right now we need all the amenities this city has, and more. Swimming is a perfect recreational activity for all ages. For the older folks it’s exercise that’s easy on the joints, no pounding. For the kids, it’s where they can safely learn to swim and enjoy the water. Afterall, this is Florida. Let’s hope these grumpy school board members have an epiphany and see the light and leave it alone.
Palm Coast lap swimmer says
Absolutely NOT.
I, and others, have been swimming laps at Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club for YEARS.
In case the 3 idiots don’t know, swimming is one of the best forms of exercise there is. Low impact. Every muscle in the body gets a workout. Plus it can cleanse away all the worries of the world.
Many long-term friendships have been made right there in the swimming pool at Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club. I remember back in 1990, an elderly man named Joe (who lived in the F section) was a regular swimmer there around the same time I would arrive at 7:00 a.m. to swim my 2 miles of laps. Not only did I get to know him very well, but I also got to know his very highly educated daughter and son-in-law. There are many others I’ve forged friendships with over the years because swimmers usually show up at the same time every day for lap swimming.
I am so sick and tired of these 3 idiots. They have nothing to offer our community other than negativity and viciousness. This is what Jill Woolbright (a vicious woman in her own right), Sharon Demers, Jearlyn Dennie and their whole group of haters (including Kathy Austrino and Alan Lowe) . . . this is what this group has brought us. Hatred, viciousness and negativity. This is also the same group who tried to destroy the Flagler Youth Orchestra and Cheryl Tristam.
I know it’s out of Furry’s scope of education and intelligence but one of the reasons that Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club isn’t doing well membership-wise is because the monthly and yearly rates were raised, even for insurance groups like Silver Sneakers. A lot of retirees on Medicare can’t afford the higher rates
For some,swimming at Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club is their only physical activity and social (friendship) outlet.
For those of you who are part of the Jill Woolbright, Sharon Demers, Jearlyn Dennie, Alan Lowe, Kathy Austrino “conservatives”, shame on you all for pushing these 3 idiots into office. I know many of you are regular troublemakers and disruptors at the Palm Coast City Council meetings. Your group has now gone “private”. Are you ashamed or are you just hiding your negativity and viciousness so the community can’t find out who you people really are.
I’m sick of the lot of you and it’s no surprise that many in the community are sick of the lot of you also. You should all be very ashamed.
For anyone who’s reading this post, just remember, Kathy Austrino and Alan Lowe are both running for seats on the Palm Coast City Council.
Palm Coast swimmer says
I think we may have to start picketing peacefully and silently outside the school board meetings as well as at the entrance to the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club pool area.
The press can be notified to include city, county, state, national and international press.
Silent and peaceful picketing may be the only way to stop these 3.
Celia Pugliese says
Yes great idea and just organize it and tell us time and date, please. We will be there picketing with you if needed tp preserve the use of this pools as is grandfathering since ITT provided it to the community over 35 0r 40 years ago!
Greg says
Sick. I moved here from a small town, Conestoga Pa, about 4000 people. We had a community pool. Almost every town, Lititz, Mountville, Mount Joy, and many more all had community pools. Step up and stop pissing away millions and actually do something for the entire community. You spent millions on a defective splash pool, and millions more trying to fix it. The city, county, and school all seem to be run by idiots.
Deborah Coffey says
Well, it says something when you can read the headline and know you don’t even have to read the article to know what’s going on….
Sherry says
We are experiencing the “down side” of capitalism. One where each and every endeavor and program “must” pay for itself or even make a “profit”. One where public health/culture/the arts are drummed out of business and closed unless they pay for themselves. What ever happened to “the common good” and “public service/works”? This is the direct result of the extreme right pushing to do away with “all public services”! Fascism is rising in each and every dimension in Florida!!!
BLINDSPOTTING says
Sherry: just take a look at the ignorant cult, 3 school board members-we don’t
even have to name them anymore their reputations precede them, Lowe a four time
loser, Austrino – her public comments at city meetings is a bunch of babbling
nonsense. Their motto should be, LET’S MAKE PALM COAST
STUPID.
melly says
This isn’t about “right vs left”, this is about a little mini-fifedom that’s taken over the school board. They’re “taking away public works” in a bid to make the pool exclusive. That’s the next step in making it even more unprofitable, so they can eventually do away with it altogether.
It’s happening in a lot of places besides here. There are some real anti-Americans getting into government and falling all over themselves to dismantle anything that is good about the areas we live in. Wake up!
Not much of a swimmer says
So I have to admit, I’ve never understood why the School pays for this. I get it, the kids do swim practice there, but that’s like me having to pay Publix’s mortgage because I shop there. While I will never ever side with Chong or Hunt, I’m glad Furry made it a majority opinion and I like the idea of this moving to a close. This actually might make sense. Let the County fund that park, lol… since they love funding school deputies. :-)
melly says
Don’t look now, but every time you shop at Publix, you contribute to their bottom line, including paying toward their mortgages and other expenses.
Tell your buddies on the school board we’re all watching them!
Smart him says
Any time anyone shops at any store, you contribute to their bottom line, way to go .. mister macroeconomics!
The only buddies I have on the board are the smart ones. And they won over the dumb 3.. not Chong hunt or furry. But I get it, tis the season. The board can’t fund this anymore and under what better cover to back out of it than from the 3 most hated members of the board, who do the dirty work while Massaro and Conklin (love you guys no hate but I get it .. it’s about votes smoke and mirrors..) take a bow, alleviating the board the need to pay for this ridiculous expenditure without compromising votes… Elder people swim. They should run, but they instead swim. If the school board closes that, they , the board members, lose the most populous vote onthe county for reelection .. the elder vote. Chung hunt and furry got the crazies vote, they don’t need the elder vote.. .. To me.. this was a board wide unanimous decision.. but the most hated members of the board took the brunt of it as they are not supported by elders but by right wings. It’s all politics ya see. I still vote strongly for massaro and god willing Conklin. But agree this funding needs to stop.
jeffery cortland seib says
Your absolutely right. The thinking behind the school board acquiring Belle Terre Swim and Racquet was over the top faulty. Itt thought that by giving Belle Terre to the school board in addition to the public the school kids would have a facility to train and recreate. But like a park or even a city hall, every city or town has to have places where residents can go for recreation. This isn’t the Taj Mahal, and it’s not Hammock Dunes.
Joey G says
I don’t know what part don’t you people understand? The schoold board pays for this it comes out of the funds that should goes towards the children it’s a fact. This has been losing money for 20 years and no one has the balls to do anything about it. Why should school funds continue to be spent on this bottomless pit. They pay like 2,000 a month just to heat the pool for 5 months out of the year. This money is coming from the school board taking it away from our children. The older folks can go right up the street 1 mile, close this dam thing down once and for all. Don’t pay to heat this just one winter and you will find 50% less enrollments. Close it down sell the property and be done with it we go through this a few times a year END IT.
Celia Pugliese says
The schools would pay less if the pool will have appropriate management and no the current over paid were the income accounting is shady as reported. The members pay a pretty stiff membership and this pool should be part of the county and city Parks and( healthy) Recreation activities! The school gets enough taxes from us all and many of us do not even have any longer kids in the school. In my yearly ad valorem the school takes as much as the county leaving Palm Coast with only 24% share of it to serve us all and also repave our roads. County, cities and school have the obligation to preserve this pool for our community healthy membership paid use! It is a shame that between first county, then city and now the school are doing away with all the amenities that ITT provided to attract us to buy hour homes in Palm Coast! While no other aquatic center is afforded and I am not for it in the current financial situation of our local government, lets preserve what we have the people’s pool!
Celia Pugliese says
This pool serves children and students as well and if they do not spend the monies here they will waste is somewhere else. I pay without complaint the highest in my ad valorem yearly to the schools and I do not have children or grand in the system and I want this service to the citizens of Palm Coast their membership based POOL PRESERVED! Lets picket line if necessary and lets do not make anymore errors at the ballot box when incumbents come around in 26 and do not forget if they insist closing the pool.
Haw Creek Girl says
The 3 stooges are going to RUIN any chance of Flagler Schools have to turn things around. Y’all bettee listen to Colleen ’cause once November comes, she won’t be around to be the voice of reason.
Jeff Morse says
Just moved here and have been using the pool at the Palm Coast Aquatics Center behind Buddy Tayor School. This isn’t that pool is it? I can’t do any other exercise with my injured knees.
BLINDSPOTTING says
Appears that a school board with the 3 crazies have alot of power with
determining the livestyles of children and adults in our city and is unheard
of. The county toys with the dangerous concept of potentially putting our childrens
lives at risk with leaving the decision to possibly defund police guards in
the schools as they know that these 3 crazies will maybe opt for the cheaper
way, now lets close the Belle Terre pool since its cost too much money to operate
without considering the health risk of our elderly population, these poor
decisions come down to the almighty dollar, MONEY BEFORE LIVES is
their motto. Be careful who you vote for come election time on not only
school board but also city and county which can mean the difference between
a good quality of life or cost of lives for Palm Coasters both young and senior
two vulnerable populations. I hear that a Chiumento law firm member named
Sullivan is going to run for Massaro’s position. looks like Chiumento and
the Chamber wants to pack this school board with their own since its holds
alot of power, we cannot allow this to happen and maybe Dance can switch
back and run for school board since he was so effective there as he is not
as effective in his county position, this can also lead to getting rid of
Petito and maybe having Lucy Dance take over her position she is more
than qualified plus she is people friendly and doesn’t have a chip on her
shoulder like her boss, after all it is a BIG CONFLICT OF INTEREST to have her
spouse as a commissioner while his wife works as Petitos assistant. I can’t
understand why no one gets this. Then Petoto can ride with her English
riding boots right off into the sunset where she belongs.
Swimmer/exerciser says
Let’s have a fund raiser for the BTSRC! We can invite the three opposing board members to a swim challenge and charge $$$ for citizens come and watch. How about a 200 meter freestyle- no stopping or hanging on the wall. That would be fantastic. See what kind of shape they are in – since they do not realize the importance of maintaining an exercise regime.