City of Saskatoon to assess state of George Ward Pool for future planning purposes

A Saskatoon city councillor has requested details on the condition, program demand and public operating hours at a popular neighbourhood pool, which is nearing the end of its lifespan.

George Ward Pool, in the city’s Holliston neighbourhood, has been open for 61 years, leading Ward 6 Councillor Jasmin Parker to question how much longer the facility can continue to operate without major renovations.

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Parker and Ward 7’s Holly Kelleher worked together on a motion presented at the April 8 meeting of Saskatoon’s planning, development and community services committee, asking administration to undertake an “asset condition assessment” of the pool.

The goal, according to Parker, is to assess the long-term viability of the facility after the 2026 summer season.

“We want a really thorough assessment of where the pool is at, where all the equipment is at, where the buildings are at,” she said. “We really want to understand what the condition of everything is at.”

Parker said the assessment will help determine what needs to be done in order to either renovate or replace the facility.

“The preference, for me, certainly is to replace the pool,” she added. “We’ve gotten our money’s worth out of that pool for sure.”

Discussions on whether to keep the pool open came up during budget deliberations in late November, when administration was asked to come up with a list of potential cuts that councilors could make in an effort to reduce the city’s increase to property taxes.

Two of the options presented were to permanently close the pool in 2027, saving the city $152,000, or reduce the overall public pool operating season, saving another $126,000. Both options were rejected by council, which ultimately approved a 6.7 per cent tax increase for 2026.

“It did start a conversation,” Parker said.

“We can start to look at those numbers for what will it cost for refurbishment, what will it cost for replacement, what are the funding opportunities that are available, maybe, with other levels of government, and what does our capital budget look like?”

Parker said she doesn’t anticipate the matter moving forward until the next two-year budget cycle in 2027.