Fees for disabled remain the same at Carson Valley Swim Center

MINDEN - While many things at the Carson Valley Swim Center are changing, disabled adults will still be able to get a discount without documenting their handicap.

The East Fork Swimming Pool Board has decided disabled adults seeking a discount at the Carson Valley Swim Center will be on the honor system.

The board decided to continue charging a daily fee for disabled users without requiring proof that the people claiming the discount are disabled.

"(A disabled rate) is going to take more energy to have to administer than to just let people in that have to report to themselves," said board member Jill Doyle.

Pool managers had recommended dropping the $1.50 day use fee charged to disabled users and instead charging them the fee that applies to their age group. For users under 17 or over 55, that wouldn't mean a change, because children and seniors pay $1.50. For disabled people aged 18 to 54, the day rate would have climbed to $3 - the adult price.

The recommended change was prompted by conflicts that were rising over the definition of disabilities. Board members reasoned that many of those claiming the disabled rate could also qualify for senior and children's rates or purchase weekly, monthly or quarterly passes, so they didn't think many would be affected by elimination of the daily rate.

The move concerned Dee Dee Foremaster, a resource specialist for the Carson City Center for Independent Living, which also serves disabled people in Douglas, Storey and Lyon counties. She worried that disabled people in the affected age group would be priced out of the pool, because they might not be able to afford the cost of a multiple-use pass or the higher daily fee.

The board considered requiring a form that would document the status of people claiming the disabled discount, but decided the number of questionable claims wouldn't justify the effort.

A recent study determined an average of two adults per day claim the discount.

Work on an addition to the swim center should be completed in March.

Among the improvements will be two 180-foot water slides that travel outside and back into the building