‘Something that we can do right now’: Lander budget for 2026-2027 includes $25K for Bruce Gresly Aquatic Center

(Lander, WY) – The municipal budget the Lander City Council approved this week for fiscal year 2026-2027 includes a $25,000 allocation for the Bruce Gresly Aquatic Center.

Councilmember Melinda Cox said the money from the city’s maintenance fund will help support operations at the pool in the short term while “a much larger conversation” continues about future funding options for the facility, which has been financed entirely by Fremont County School District 1 for the past deacde, according to previous reports.

This year, however, the state funding model for public school districts in Wyoming “changed significantly,” Cox said.

“Their funding went into silos,” she explained. “(So) our school district is unable to move money, or be more flexible with the funding.”

The local swimming pool “is taking a significant hit” as a result, Cox said, and “that is why we’re now in this position where we have to discuss this.”

Local residents utilize the pool at a much higher rate than the school district, Cox pointed out, referring to the facility as “a community recreation center.”

“It’s like 80 percent community use versus 20 percent school,” she estimated. “So I appreciate that (the $25,000 allocation) was done. … That $25,000 is a very small portion, but it’s something that we can do right now.”

Councilmember Josh Hahn offered to share more information about costs at the pool, but Councilmember Julia Stuble, who was running the meeting, said she wanted to limit the conversation to only the municipal budget that evening and leave the “more broad” discussions about “long-term” funding for the pool for “a different time.”

Mayor Missy White said she plans to provide an update on the pool funding discussion during a council meeting later this month.