PENDLETON — Even before it was adopted, City Manager Robb Corbett warned that he might be forced to make significant changes to the 2020-21 budget to accommodate the uncertain future of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those warnings began to crystallize on June 5, when the city announced it wouldn’t open the Pendleton Aquatic Center this season despite the state allowing Umatilla County public pools to operate as long as they followed social distancing guidelines.

The announcement spurred many questions and comments from residents, and on Monday, June 8, Corbett said he felt like the city needed to further explain its decision.

The city honed in on the amount of money the city budgeted to operate the aquatic center this year: $607,300.

Under normal circumstances, the city anticipated the pool bringing in $335,000 in revenue from sources like admission, concessions and swimming lessons. The other half of the aquatic center’s operations is subsidized by the general fund, the pot of money funded by property taxes and shared by several services, including police, fire, and parks and recreation.

With the state only allowing a maximum of 100 people in public pools at a time, Corbett said city officials couldn’t make the math work.

“Staff looked at a variety of cost saving options including: only opening one of the pools, reducing hours, not heating the pools, and reducing staffing,” the press release states. “But a large financial gap still remained.”

The other option the city had was increasing the subsidy from the general fund, but the city expects it to take a hit as well.

“During the last recession, many cities saw reduced general fund revenue due to people falling behind on their property taxes,” the press release states. “It is likely we will see some of that as a result of this pandemic. To what extent we are not sure.”

While the city could have subsidized the pool further from the general fund or an interfund loan, Corbett said he didn’t want to risk funding to other general fund services, such as public safety, by opening the pool.

The Pendleton Convention Center is also facing budget shortfalls, but the city is taking a different tack to keep it afloat.

The convention center derives its operating money from space rentals and hotel room taxes, meaning the facility is affected twice as much when convention center events that draw overnight visitors are canceled.

Pat Beard, the convention center’s manager, said the facility’s first quarter showed higher-than-average revenue before it took a nose dive in April as Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-home orders settled in.

“It’s like someone just turned the pipe off,” he said.

On June 2, the council approved a $150,000 interfund loan to pay for some of the convention center’s basic operational costs as it begins to host events again.

Beard said he would like to pay off the loan by the end of the year, but he wasn’t sure if it would happen given the unpredictability of the pandemic.

On June 5, Brown allowed Umatilla County to advance into the second phase of its reopening, which allows the convention center to host up to 250 people.

While that’s not anywhere close to the facility’s 1,100-person capacity, Beard said he thinks he can work within the state’s strictures to host larger events by splitting conferences and events into morning and afternoon sessions or across multiple days.

Beard expects business to pick up during the summer and he’s preparing for the Pendleton Round-Up in September.

The rodeo association has been quiet about its plans for 2020, but it has told media outlets that its still planning to hold its event in September. The convention center usually hosts Goldie’s Bar during Round-Up week.

“Whenever they need us, we’ll be ready,” he said.