Swimmers at state parks to feel heat from budget cuts
SARATOGA SPRINGS - The Peerless Pool at Saratoga Spa State Park will be closed on Tuesdays this summer as a result of state budget cuts, officials announced today.
Alane Ball Chinian, the regional director for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said that date was selected because it is the day the facility sees the least number of visitors.
Several other swimming outlets in the region, including the beaches at Cherry Plain State Park, Thompson’s Lake State Park and Grafton Lakes State Park, will also be closed for two days each week as a result of budget cuts.
"When you reduce the days down to five or six here or there, that helps us quite a bit overall," Chinian said.
Overall, 100 parks and historic sites in the state are seeing reductions in hours or a shortening of their seasons. None will be closed in full, however.
But the Victoria Pool, also located in Saratoga Spa State Park, will remain open seven days a week. Both pools at Saratoga Spa State Park will be open from June 27 through Labor Day as usual.
The beach at Moreau Lake State Park will also remain open as normal.
All swimming outlets in the region will close an hour earlier, however, leaving them open eight hours a day instead of nine hours a day, officials said.
Fees for pool admissions and other park services such as pavilion rentals are also likely to be changed as a result of budget cuts, but specifics have not yet been released.
A draft proposal that was circulated earlier this year showed entrance fees for the Victoria Pool going from $3 to $4 for children and from $6 to $8 for adults.
The parks themselves, though, will keep their admission rates at $6, officials said.
This story originally appeared on PostStar.
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