With maintenance costs mounting at Oak Harbor’s public pool, it may get pricier to go for a swim.

Built in 1983, the pool will need a new pool boiler in the next several years. That currently carries a price tag of at least $300,000. The metal roof must also be replaced, an expense estimated at $100,000 or more.

Other future replacements include a boiler that heats the showers, chlorine pump, pool lights and new windows.

The pool still has its original windows, and some of them leak.

Also, one window shattered as the building settled, according to North Whidbey Parks and Recreation Commissioner Donna Sue Holly.

No one was in the building at the time, but Holly said she worries it might happen again.

“No one else seems to be concerned, and I’m not sure why,” she said.

To cover the costs of improvements, the North Whidbey parks board is considering raising prices on every program offered at the Oak Harbor pool.

Under the proposal, regular adult admission would increase to $5 from $3.50, while youth admission would go to $4 from $3.25.

Monthly dues for the swim club would balloon by as much as $45 depending on the training group.

The same document includes a recommendation from pool staff for more modest price hikes. Under the staff proposal, for example, adults would pay $4 — 50 cents more than the current charge.

The proposal is part of a larger discussion about how much taxpayers should subsidize pool programs, in particular the swim club, and how the district will pay for building repairs that could total half a million dollars or more in the next few years.

The proposal grew out of a discussion board member Wendy Shingleton initiated about the North Whidbey Aquatic Club, which is subsidized with tax dollars.

Shingleton and Commissioner Holly reviewed all programs and floated the price hikes during a July 30 meeting.

The proposed fee hikes didn’t go over well with parks Commissioner Steve Hoffmire. During that meeting, he said the price increases were too steep and would anger patrons.

“I personally don’t want to see this posted for the public to see,” he said.

On Monday afternoon, Monica Andreas of Oak Harbor cooled her feet in the wading pool and chatted with a friend while their children splashed nearby.

If the pool wants to charge more, it needs to offer something more for patrons such as a slide, she remarked.

“If they’re going to raise prices, they need an incentive,” she said.

North Whidbey Park and Recreation is a special-purpose district that stretches outside of city borders, serving the same area as Oak Harbor Public Schools.

Although operating the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool is a substantial part of what the parks district does, it also includes two community parks.

A levy provides around $600,000 annually. Last year, it cost just under $900,000 to pay the district’s bills. The district’s reserve fund is currently less than $100,000.

While public pools aren’t moneymakers, Holly said she would like all district programs to pay for themselves.

The pool is underpriced compared to other local pools, she said.

Anacortes, for example, charges $6 for adults and youths.

Holly expressed concerns that the parks district isn’t setting aside money for maintenance.

Holly said she also would like the district to stop subsidizing the swim club.

The majority of swim clubs are privately run and financed, she said.

Dick Taylor, the club’s coach, said he’s worked for many teams around the country, including a team in Colorado, that also was supported, in part, with tax money.

“The prices are in line with other swim clubs,” he said. “This is an average-priced team.”

The swim club is a program just like any other the district offers and shouldn’t be singled out, he said.

The board plans to discuss the proposal during its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20 at the pool.