ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – During the warmer months of the year, It’s great to cool off with a dip in the pool or going down a water-slide. Adventure Cove in Abilene is a place where you can spend time with family to do that, but it may cost you a bit more this year to have that experience.

Lesli Andrews, Director of the Abilene Parks and Recreation, said everything is more expensive than before.

“The cost to hire lifeguards has gone up, the cost of chemicals, the cost of water and electricity. Every price has gone up,” said Andrews.

Parks and Recreation hired a consulting firm, the sports facilities companies, to generate ideas to improve operations at Adventure Cove. One of those suggestions was increasing admission costs to keep the water park affordable and accessible to all.

The firm and Parks and Rec looked at the current cost of living in Abilene and found that prices are projected to increase gradually within the next few years. Residents can start to see those changes this summer with a one-dollar increase.

“Multiple states, multiple water parks, they have a really good basis on what the average is. What they are proposing is over a three-year period, bringing us up to the low end of what the average is,” added Andrews.

With workforce challenges, parks and rec is looking to hire a managing company to focus on running the facility and hiring. This will ensure Adventure Cove has enough lifeguards and staff to keep families safe.

“It’s hard to keep an aquatics manager there full-time overseeing everything, so what we’re wanting to do is hire a third-party company for them to be responsible for the hiring and overseeing of all aquatics, but the biggest piece of that is the personnel side of that,” shared Andrews.

If the proposal is approved by city council, other changes will include swim lessons and water aerobics classes for seniors, all in an effort to make the water park inclusive for every member of the community.