By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Members of a private pool in the Meadowbrook neighborhood hope to keep their summer fun spot off the auction block.
They need to raise nearly $4,000 to pay delinquent property taxes or Rowan County will foreclose on the property and put the pool up for sale.
“We have no intention of being foreclosed on,” President Kim Bowden said. “This pool has survived for 52 years.”
Stockholders own the pool, which Bowden said has no affiliation with the Meadowbrook neighborhood other than the name. The pool is located at the end of Welch Road.
Members came together recently to talk about ways to save the pool, said Bowden, who grew up swimming at the facility.
For the rest of this month, the pool is offering a summer family membership for $200. The price returns to $350 in May.
Pool members are posting flyers, placing advertisements and plan to host a fundraiser, Bowden said.
The pool owes taxes from 2008 to 2010 totaling $3,960, according to county tax records. Rowan County filed a judgment with the Clerk of Court on Feb. 22, giving the pool 90 days to pay the balance, Deputy Tax Collector Janet Phillips said.
If they don’t pay the outstanding amount, the county will foreclose on the property and sell the pool at public auction, Phillips said.
She said she doesn’t know of any other swimming pools in danger of foreclosure.
Four pool members have called the tax office with plans to satisfy the debt, Phillips said. The three-acre property has a tax value of $109,000.
Bowden said the pool has made regular annual payments toward the outstanding balance.
Phillips said the pool paid $1,200 in June 2011 but then failed to maintain a $200 monthly payment plan. She said the county gave the pool several chances to make payments.
“If you are delinquent, you need to make monthly payments,” she said. “If you skip payments, we go to the status of foreclosure.”
Pools are expensive to operate, and money only comes in during the summer months, Bowden said.
Membership grew to 50 families last summer, she said, and several private groups that rented the pool weekly last year plan to return, including a church and a childcare center.
The pool no longer sells stock after finding that many Rowan County families could not afford both stock and annual dues, she said.
The pool plans to be open from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
To join the pool, call 704-213-7742.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.