SARGENT, NE – A small crowd packed the meeting home of the Sargent City Council on Tuesday night. Those who filed through the door at the beginning of the night had passionate discussion, concerned question-answering, and a decision from the City Council on a swimming pool bond ahead of them.
Tuesday’s meeting came on the heels of the completion of a pool feasibility study and a May meeting that kicked off collaboration with Miller & Associates for renderings. With renderings complete, the stage was set for a decision to be made by the City Council on a $4 million pool bond for the November general election ballot.
Pool manager Krystina Rugg, alongside Jinger Larson, gave a passionate slideshow presentation to those in attendance which highlighted some of the numbers from the most recent swim season as well as fundraising efforts.
The Sargent pool sold 38 family passes, 13 individual passes, and just over $2,100 in snacks in 2024. Placed together with day passes, a total estimate sat at $7,825. In addition, the pool raised $924 with a BBQ in the park and $2,284 at a boat race and lifeguard auction event.
Rugg maintained her excited tone when passing along that the pool increased its number of night swims for the season and had a record number of swimmers through the gate. Her presentation also shared pictures and videos from the swim season, as well as impact quotes she had gathered from citizens and patrons who wanted to see a pool retained in Sargent.
Rugg said she and Larson visited 116 homes in the Sargent community recently, with the goal of informing and answering questions. She added that 71 of those contacts expressed they would want a new pool, 43 said they wanted to repair the current pool, and that two wanted to do nothing.
A mural is in progress on the side of the pool house to help visualize a fundraising goal, which pool proponents are determined to continue to raise while pursuing grants to also offset a bond cost.
“I just want everyone to know that our promise to you is that we’re going to continue to pushing and continue fighting to get funding for this and we will push for every single grant. We’ve spoken to community members who have told us they will help us to review grants. We can find a grant writer who will also help us find that targeted audience to get these things approved so that we can get this paid for,” said Rugg.
A video of the last jump into the pool from this season closed Rugg’s presentation, and a conversation that popped all over the room like popcorn ensued. Questions and concerns ranged from the common concern about property tax amounts to what costs would look like factoring in the looming drainage project for the city. Some opinions brought groans and some opinions brought agreement.
One major concern raised during door-to-door conversations as well as in the room Tuesday night was what effect a bond would have on Homestead Exemption. A representative from Northland Securities shed some light on the question.
“However you qualify under the act right now, that flows through to the city’s assessed valuation. So, when the bond is issued it’s issued against the city’s assessed valuation; so all the tax dollars that they receive on that valuation, you know, that’s the same, that levy is going to be against their valuation currently. So, yeah, it wouldn’t change anything.”
As the room went from a dull roar to a whisper, the Sargent City Council read the details of the bond, to not exceed $4 million, before a vote.
Council members Micky Schneider, Tim Clayton, Ricky Hightower, and Gerry Sheets voted ‘yes’, and Resolution 2024-4 passed unanimously. Voters will decide in November if a pool is in the future for Sargent, or if this bond will have the same fate as the failed special election in March of 2023. A failed bond would trigger a six month waiting period before another could be attempted.
“We’re continuing to come door to door and around the community to just spread the information that we have so that everybody understands, we’re trying to be fully transparent about all of the information so that as we get more we’re going to continue to share that. We just want to encourage everybody to show up and vote when the time comes,” Rugg said through tears.
Audio of Krystina Rugg’s full presentation from Tuesday night’s meeting:
