Season Begins Without Lifeguards

Temperatures could climb this weekend to near 80 degrees, tempting swimmers to make the most of the county's popular swimming areas.

If they do, they won't be under the watchful eyes of lifeguards.

March is typically the time when lifeguards return to their stations for the swimming season at Linda Pedersen Park and Rogers Park on the Weekiwachee River and McKethan Park on Pine Island.

The guards were on duty only on the weekends between March and about mid-June. When college students returned for their summer gigs, guards were present seven days a week through Labor Day.

But the roughly $87,000 that would have funded the guards in 2009 was cut from the recreation department's budget last year. So swimmers are on their own.

It was a hard decision, but a necessary one, Parks and Recreation Director Pat Fagan said. Fagan had to trim a little more than $234,000 from the recreation budget.

"It's always hard whenever you have to stop providing a service," Fagan said.

Fagan asked the county commission at that time to increase the parking fees at Pine Island and Rogers Park from $2 to $4. That would have helped lessen the blow to the parks budget and might have been the lifesaver for the lifeguards, Fagan told the board.

But the commission members balked, saying they didn't want to lower property taxes and then hit residents with higher fees.

The county has installed large signs at the entrance to the parks noting no lifeguard is on duty and swimmers enter the water at their own risk.

Fagan noted swimmers have always fended for themselves at the parks after 5 p.m., when lifeguards leave for the day. And the county is not alone in its decision, Fagan and County Commission Chairman Dave Russell pointed out.

"This is being done all over the state," Russell said. "It's unfortunate that, times being what they are, we can't afford lifeguards. It does add an extra layer of security for some folks, but the economic situation being what it is just makes it prohibitive."

Among the local governments that have eliminated lifeguard service is Citrus County, which made the cuts for this year's budget.

Palm Beach County trimmed its lifeguard ranks in 2007, cutting personnel and closing towers that monitor the often treacherous Atlantic Ocean. Further up the coast in Brevard County, the county commission is so desperate to trim 10 percent from its budget that board members said last week they might be open to paring down the lifeguard force.

Russell and Fagan said the county would revisit the issue each year, but with next year's budget expected to be even tighter, the prospect of finding money for the guards is grim.

Among the crowd on Pine Island's beach Thursday afternoon were Marvin and Margaret Link. The part-time residents live in High Point and bring grandchildren to Pine Island often during the early spring.

The Links said they would be willing to pay more to enter the park if it meant getting the lifeguards back on their perches.

"It's not worth cutting the budget at the cost of a child's life," Margaret said.