The Homer community and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District seek a long-term solution for operating the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center after June 2027.

By Delcenia Cosman

Homer Independent Press

A presentation during Monday’s Homer City Council meeting relayed some good news — the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center at Homer High School will remain open after July 31.

Collaboration between the recently-formed Homer Pool Lifesavers, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, the City of Homer and South Peninsula Hospital has bought the pool one more year of operation. Now, the community has until June 30, 2027, to come up with a long-term solution.

After the KPBSD announced earlier this year that they would end district support of school pools as a cost-saving measure in the face of reduced  state funding, the Kachemak Swim Club took the reins on efforts to keep the Homer High School pool operating. But high costs associated with staffing the pool and obtaining insurance to cover community activities proved to be impassable barriers for the club to fully take on management of the pool.

For the next fiscal year, the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center will remain under KPBSD operation. Superintendent Clayton Holland confirmed Tuesday that the school district will continue insuring the facility and will pay to staff it using funds from the pool operations account, which is funded through pool user fees.

Holland said Monday during his presentation to the Homer City Council that Homer’s pool operations account currently has almost $86,000. 

Facility maintenance will continue to be managed by the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Local groups, meanwhile, will pay the majority cost of utilities for this year — nearly $60,000.

The City of Homer and South Peninsula Hospital previously had each pledged $20,000 to Kachemak Swim Club, pending a finalized contract with the school district, to help with operational costs. That $40,000 will now instead be used to cover the utilities. 

Formed by lifelong swimmer Jan Rumble, Kachemak Swim Club board member Colette Choate and local entrepreneur Daniel Zatz, the Homer Pool Lifesavers raised the remaining $20,000 to secure Homer’s portion of the pool funding for the year. Community members donated $12,000 through a GoFundMe in less than 6 hours on Monday.

KPBSD Director of Planning and Operations Kevin Lyon previously said that closing the Homer pool would save the district $200,000 annually and that the yearly cost of utilities alone was about $127,500. On Monday, Holland said that the district needed about $164,000 to run the pool this year — $59,873 for utilities and $103,992 for the pool manager’s salary and benefits — and called the new utilities cost “a lowball estimate.”

In putting together a cost estimate, he explained, the borough took the utility cost for an empty pool — $56,484 — and increased it by 6% to account for inflation, bringing the estimated 2026 utilities to $59,873.

“It’s not really reflective of when you heat the water … but we’re going to go with this number,” Holland said.

To maintain the pool operations account going forward, Holland also said that the district will increase fees “quite significantly” — a measure that is being applied to each of the pools continuing to operate this fiscal year.

“It’s not going to hit the individual lap swimmer quite as much as it will group settings,” he said, referring to schools, swim clubs and other groups that will use the pool. “But we will need to generate revenue to help offset costs and work toward hopefully funding that balance for the next year.”

The school district and the Homer community may have finally cobbled together a solution for this year, but all parties recognize that a viable long-term solution is still needed to keep the pool going in perpetuity without resorting to last-minute crowdfunding year after year.

Holland said that a working group is being put together to brainstorm solutions for sustainable pool operations across the district. The Homer Pool Lifesavers will be a part of that conversation; according to their website, the Lifesavers will begin organizing and planning in September. They invite the community to join in and bring their ideas.

“Hopefully we can get things sorted out and figure out maybe a new way of doing business,” Holland said.

Public testimony at Monday’s council meeting — both live and in written comments — was solidly in favor of keeping Homer’s pool alive as a public resource for widespread community benefit. 

An Alaska swim coach for 35 years, Rumble said that the rapid response from the community to the Lifesavers’ GoFundMe showed how essential the Homer pool is, and that she hoped the City of Homer, the borough and the KPBSD would remain “actively engaged in open, productive conversations” to help develop a “sustainable, intentional and timely plan.”

“We’re not at the finish line — it’s just the beginning of the next phase,” she said. “Working together, we believe that we can prevent this community from facing the same crisis year after year. The Homer Pool Lifesavers intends to remain an active partner in this effort … until a long-term solution is in place.”

Local resident Mary Samuel said access to a public pool creates an opportunity for an increase in both physical and mental health.

Billy Pepper said he’s used the pool extensively, both professionally and for recreation, for the 43 years that he’s lived in Homer. While working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he said they conducted watercraft safety training in the pool.

“The pool was and still is the only facility in the lower peninsula that I know that can make that happen,” he said. “The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association still uses the pool to this day to teach local families and mariners how to use the essential watercraft safety features to protect them from the Alaska waters…. The pool is a training facility, a recreational facility, an education facility and a rehabilitation center.”

In written comments submitted to the council, resident Emilie Otis outlined the pool’s impact on water safety and the local economy, accessibility and senior health, youth and lifelong athletics, and winter wellness. 

“Over the past three decades, I have seen the pool serve diverse user groups spanning every generation, from infants to seniors…. We cannot afford to lose this essential resource,” she wrote

Retired nurse Kim Greer echoed other comments on the pool’s importance for physical and mental health for people of all ages and abilities.

“I’ve been an athlete all my life, but I’m in my fourth quarter … and I can’t do all those things anymore,” she said. “The two things I can do is I can walk and I can be in the pool. If I don’t have the pool, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

The next Homer City Council meeting will be held Monday, Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. in the Homer City Hall Cowles Council Chambers and via Zoom.


Editor’s note: Daniel Zatz, one of the group who formed Homer Pool Lifesavers, is a member of the Homer Independent Press Editorial Advisory Board, but did not participate in the writing or editing of this story.