A proposal to start charging admission at Plainfield's year-old Rushmore Aquatic Complex collapsed this week when a city council motion to introduce the fee ordinance failed to get a second. The vote, or lack of one, means the pool — which drew roughly 2,800 users this year according to city officials — remains free to enter for now, even as the municipality faces warnings about rising costs elsewhere in its budget.
The council took up the proposed Rushmore fee ordinance Monday, weighing a schedule that would have charged residents $3 for a single day pass, $50 for an individual season pass covering a 90-day season, and $150 for a household season pass, according to TAPinto Plainfield. A household, under the proposal, was defined as people living at the same address, and nonresident fees would have been set at double the resident rates. Councilman Steve Hockaday moved to introduce the ordinance on first reading, but the motion did not receive a second, effectively killing it for the night.
Mayor Defends the Push for Fees
Mayor Adrian Mapp argued that without fees, property owners would otherwise shoulder the full cost of operating Rushmore, and he noted that municipalities across New Jersey generally charge for pool services. Mapp said his administration had never promised free pool service to residents, according to the same report. A sliding scale was also suggested for any future version of the ordinance.
Not everyone on the dais was convinced the math justified moving forward. Councilman Robert Graham raised concerns about residents' ability to pay, while Councilman Richard Wyatt said recent election results reflected voter concern about affordability generally. Hockaday, meanwhile, moved to introduce the ordinance.
A Facility Built Big, Costing Plainfield Hundreds of Thousands a Year
Rushmore opened in August 2025 with a ribbon-cutting that the city celebrated as a major investment, according to nj.com. The outlet reported the complex was built at a cost of $10 million and includes a 12,000-square-foot splash pad and a competition-sized pool, in addition to locker rooms, bathrooms and a concession stand. A 2022 mayoral address had separately put the cost of reconstructing Seidler Field together with the Rushmore Recreational Complex at almost $5 million, though the evidence does not reconcile how that earlier figure relates to the later $10 million project cost.
City Business Administrator Zenobia Fields told the council Rushmore costs between $450,000 and $500,000 annually to operate — a figure that works out to roughly $5,357 per scheduled operating day at the low end, based on the facility's planned 84-day 2026 season. Fields said she did not have the breakdown between maintenance and staffing costs on hand but offered to provide it later to Councilwoman Julienne Cherry. She also warned that Plainfield's health insurance costs were expected to rise by approximately $2.9 million in 2027, and that residents could face a 6% tax increase that year.
The Numbers Behind a Hypothetical Fee System
Fields said around 2,500 Plainfield residents and about 300 nonresidents used Rushmore this year, for a total of roughly 2,800 users. A hypothetical calculation presented to the council assumed all 2,500 resident users bought $50 season passes and all 300 nonresidents bought $100 passes, which would generate about $155,000 — though officials cautioned actual revenue could come in lower. Any nonresident charge would also have to stay within Green Acres funding restrictions, which cap nonresident fees at no more than double what residents pay.
Under the proposed system, no one would have paid at the point of entry; day-pass applicants instead would have needed to pay at the Division of Parks and Recreation inside the City Hall annex beforehand. Hannah Atkins Pool and Seidler Pool, meanwhile, would have remained free regardless of whether the Rushmore ordinance passed. Fields added that she had investigated sponsorships or grants to help offset costs and planned to keep exploring those options.
Free Access in 2025, Tighter Rules Possible in 2026
When Rushmore first opened, access was free for Plainfield residents who obtained a pool badge through online registration, per the earlier nj.com report. The facility opens on Memorial Day weekend each year and operates on weekends only through the last week of June, weather permitting, before shifting to daily hours from the June weekend through Labor Day. In 2026, Rushmore was scheduled to be open for 84 days, though at least one weekend was rained out.
Plainfield's population exceeds 50,000 people, and the fee debate comes as other city facilities already charge for use — the Plainfield Board of Education's aquatic facilities charge groups a fee, and the planned Center of Excellence at the former YMCA is expected to charge a fee as well. The comparison to Weehawken, a Hudson County township that moved to a season-pass-only system after more than 900 people showed up to its pool on Memorial Day 2023, illustrates how quickly free municipal pools elsewhere have drawn crowds that strained capacity; nj.com reported that 308 of the 906 people admitted that day were Hoboken residents, and that Weehawken's passes start at $100 for a family's first adult with nonresident passes costing double.
Looking to Grants for Lifeguard Funding
Separately from the fee debate, Darcella Sessomes told the council the governor had allocated $9 million for summer youth work programs through the state Department of Labor, funding municipalities could tap to help pay lifeguards. An information session on those grants is set for Nov. 23, with applications due Dec. 21. For now, with the fee ordinance stalled and no second to Hockaday's motion, Rushmore's cost structure — and who ultimately pays for it — remains an open question for the council to revisit.
