AUSTIN, Texas - Austin leaders are having a hard time swallowing the $124-million price tag to repair the city's pools.

On average, the pools are more than 50 years old, and many are more than 80.

"The corrosion is phenomenal," said Rich DePalma, vice chair of the Austin Parks and Recreation Board, as he showed pump equipment at Southeast Austin's shuttered Mabel Davis Pool.

The city shut down the pool in 2016 because of major leaks and environmental concerns. DePalma said it looks the same now as it did then.

"You've got the rust coming through here," he said while pointing to deterioration in the open air changing room. "You look at the dated lighting here, and this is what we are supposed to be proud of."

DePalma is one of four PARB members who served on the Aquatic Master Plan Task Force, which the Austin City Council created in August 2017 to vet the Aquatic Master Plan drafted by a consultant after more than three years of community engagement. At the time, city leaders say they wanted to know whether the proposed changes are necessary.

MORE | Austin Aquatic Master Plan

The Task Force recommendations, which will be decided by City Council on Thursday, support fixing or replacing 13 pools and building four new ones. The new pools would be located in the four corners of Austin. Repairs would vary from pool to pool, but they would be part of a citywide effort to improve pools over a five-year period.

DePalma said the $124-million proposal should be put on the ballot this November.

"Let the voters choose," he said. "Do they value aquatics, or is it just not the right priority at this point?"

City leaders still must determine what to do with older pools in need of major repairs like Civitan Pool in Southeast Austin's Montopolis Neighborhood. Many are smaller neighborhood pools that cost a lot to operate and consume large amounts of water.

According to a survey conducted while drafting the Aquatic Master Plan, only 30 percent of respondents said they want to see pools in need of major repairs shut down and replaced with "family-friendly options."

MORE | Aquatic Task Force Recommendations

"We were fairly concerned about their recommendations to close pools," said Steve Johnson, who founded Love Austin Pools, or LAP.

Johnson is also part of another group that supports Northwest Pool near his home in Allandale. Johnson said city leaders should explore all options to make the pool program sustainable, including support from private investors.

Before going to voters, he wants the City Council to flesh out that $124-million price tag. 

"Go to city staff, make them crunch the numbers," Johnson said. "Make sure those are real numbers."

Since 2011, almost a dozen Austin pools have closed and some of them have been permanently. PARB Chair Jane Rivera said the city could lose a dozen more pools within the next five years if major repairs are not made.

The City Council will take up the item Thursday at their first regular meeting of 2018.