Starting next year, the daily admission to Baer Memorial Swimming Pool in Lehighton will increase to be more comparable to area pools.

On a 5-0 vote, borough council on Monday agreed to raise the daily admission rate from $10 to $12 for adults, and $7 to $8 for children.

Tom Evans, borough recreation director, told council he also plans to increase food prices.

In a related matter, council approved the addition of three more lifeguards for the 2025 season, per the recommendation of Evans.

Borough Manager Dane DeWire said the borough wants to make sure it isn’t going to lose any money.

Mayor Ryan Saunders told Evans there was a concern raised last month about the abundance of lifeguards sitting around looking at their cellphones.

Evans explained his rationale behind having so many lifeguards.

“If a lot of people are there, I need every single one of them,” Evans said. “A child’s life is priceless.”

Evans then suggested that the borough wastes a lot of money, a claim to which DeWire said he took to heart.

Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky reassured Evans that no one on borough council wants to see a child get injured or something happen.

Abelovsky said that recreation is never going to make a lot of money, and told Evans the concern was more a matter of “how can we not lose money.”

DeWire added that the borough is proud of the lifeguards it has.

After the meeting, Saunders stressed what council’s intent was behind the discussion.

“No one from council, or the mayor, is insinuating we want to cut lifeguards to impede on any safety of patrons of the pool,” Saunders said. “The issue in question was the implementation of the scheduling of the guards.”

Saunders added they merely wanted to ensure that the personnel at the pool were being managed efficiently, not to cut the lifeguards to save money.

“It’s to manage the personnel more efficiently than we have in the past,” he said. “We’re not implying that we want to cut costs to jeopardize the safety of the swimmers.”

Councilmen John Kreitz and Dave Zimmerman were absent.