A 2010 Grant Saved Cortez's Outdoor Pool for Next Summer. What Happens After That?
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The outdoor pool in Veterans Park nearly missed the summer of 2027. The City of Cortez released its draft budget on Oct. 20 with only $5,000 set aside for the pool and nothing for operating it, according to Cortez Current. Two days later the City reversed course. Its Oct. 22 release was blunt: "the pool will open in 2027."
The reversal came from an old contract, and that contract also explains why next summer works as a bridge rather than a fix. The grant that saved the pool requires the City to keep it running for 25 years "or the useful life of the project." In that same release, the City says the pool is getting close to the end of its useful life. The longer-term answer will come from the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which opens to wide public input in January.
In 2010, Cortez received a one-time $700,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado. It covered the largest share of a $1,073,220 renovation of the municipal pool. That project added the splash pad, replaced the bathhouse and repaired the deck and fencing. To get the money, the City agreed to a condition that the Oct. 22 release quotes directly:
"a period of 25 years from the date of completion of the project or the useful life of the project"
According to the City, this information came out of the public discussion, wasn't in the City's own files, and was checked and found valid. The City says it "intends to honor its commitment." The release follows that immediately with this: "without significant renovations, which the City cannot currently fund, the pool is nearing the end of its useful life."
The grant keeps the pool in the budget for now. Its long-term future depends on the facility itself, and the City has been clear about what kind of shape it's in.
The pool is about 70 years old. It was built in the 1950s and needs costly short-term repairs every year just to open. It also leaks thousands of gallons a day. Over a season that adds up to roughly 570,000 to 840,000 gallons of treated water, and new leaks keep showing up as the old structure shifts. KSJD reported that the season it's open for is 11 weeks long.
Here are the City's own figures side by side:
| Figure from the City's Oct. 22, 2026 release | Amount |
|---|---|
| Yearly cost to run the pool | $477,000 |
| Expected fee revenue | $86,000, about 18% of cost |
| Net operating cost | about $391,000 |
| Projected drop in City revenue for 2027 | $539,291 |
| Estimated long-term fix | about $1.5 million |
The pool's net cost is nearly three-quarters of the revenue the City expects to lose next year. The $1.5 million repair is close to four years of that net cost, a comparison the City makes itself. City Manager Drew Sanders said the City had to be careful with its resources. Parks and Recreation Director Creighton Wright said budget pressure pushed the pool question forward ahead of the master plan, as Cortez Current reported.
The City is still working out how to pay for 2027. According to the release, most of the money will likely come from three places. The first is putting off planned maintenance on public buildings for at least a year. The second is running the pool more cheaply, which probably means shorter hours and higher fees. The third is possible cuts to staff pay. The City calls all three "one-year solutions, not a permanent fix." It also says fees can't close the gap alone, because covering the full cost would mean raising them more than fivefold.
For anyone already planning summer swim lessons or lap mornings, the City says the 2027 season will most likely look different. Parks and Recreation is still working out the details.
Swimmers in Cortez have answered the obvious question, which is why not just use the indoor pool. Cortez Current describes the outdoor pool at 803 E. Montezuma Ave. as an L-shaped pool, 50 meters by 25 yards, with a 125-foot double-loop water slide, a splash pad, and a diving board over a 14-foot diving well. In The Journal, members of Cortez's swimming community said the indoor pool is much smaller and would hurt swim team practices and meets. They also said swimmers from Dolores and Durango train at the outdoor pool because of its size.
The Cortez Water Dragons youth club put numbers to that at the Oct. 27 City Council meeting, KSJD reported. Board president Emily Pearson said 91 swimmers ages 5 to 18 swam with the club this year, and 52 of them qualified for the seasonal state meet. "We had the most swimmers of any team there and we took second overall and we won the 2026 Spirit Awards," she said.
Board secretary Kyle Archibeque told the council the team usually uses the outdoor pool four days a week in summer. He said the club's three-day home meet in May drew eight teams and 179 swimmers, with long-course events on Saturday and Sunday. Those events can't be held at the Rec Center pool. The club has also hosted the seasonal state meet twice in the last five years, which brings in 13 to 15 teams. Archibeque added that visiting teams like "the deck space, the large trees, the shade outside at the pool, and the warm-up lanes."
Some of what makes it a competition pool came from the families themselves. Head coach Sarah Brock told The Journal that the Water Dragons have paid for touchpads, starting blocks, lane lines, flags and a large scoreboard. Brock started a petition to keep the pool open, and it had more than 1,600 signatures by the afternoon the City reversed itself.
The public comments covered more than objections. At the same council meeting, pool user Monique Knaggs suggested more adult lap-swim time, a higher fee for out-of-county guests and a cooler water temperature to save money, KSJD reported. Morgan Head volunteers on the local baseball, softball and youth football boards. She asked the City to reconsider cuts that could limit access to sports facilities and said, "Youth sports are not a luxury." Archibeque said the Water Dragons want to "work alongside city staff, Parks and Rec, council, families, and community members to explore realistic solutions."
Brock's own advice to The Journal was to show up: "I hope the public can show up in droves to these public budget forums."
The City has said the bigger choices still ahead go beyond the outdoor pool: whether to spend about $1.5 million on renovation, find a different way to fund it, or consider other options. Wright expects long-term funding for the whole parks system to be the biggest issue in the master plan, and the City notes that with limited money, a choice about one park or program affects the others.
The 2027 season is settled in principle. The years after it will be decided in two rooms, the budget hearings this month and the master plan process this winter:
At a listening session with the consultant the evening before Oct. 28, council members asked for a plan that's realistic and financially sustainable and that takes deferred maintenance into account. That's the same deferred maintenance the City now plans to add to in order to fund the pool for 2027.
You can raise smaller issues before January. On Oct. 29 the City launched Cortez Reports, a survey and interactive map for flagging water, street and park problems. City staff review those reports and use them in capital improvement planning.
When the gates at Veterans Park open next summer, the hours and fees may be different, and the leaks will still be there. The decision on a $1.5 million renovation will run through the January master plan sessions.
At Regents Real Estate Group, we pay attention to Cortez budget hearings because what the City funds, like the pool, the parks and the upkeep of public buildings, affects everyone who owns a home here. If you're curious how your own place stacks up while those decisions get made, our Cortez team is glad to sit down with you. Get your free home valuation whenever it suits you.
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