PORT TOWNSEND — East Jefferson County’s only public swimming pool may close its doors in the coming months if the city of Port Townsend and the Port Townsend School District can’t find a way to pay the utility bills.

School District Manager of Fiscal Services Steve McIntire informed the school board on Monday evening that the financial status of the pool was grim.

“The clock is ticking,” McIntire said.

“From this last Saturday on, we are over budget on the pool.”

He estimated that the cost to keep the pool open from now until the end of December would be about $35,000 over the amount originally budgeted.

“Last year, in 2007, the $72,000 that the city paid for operation of the pool came within about $1,500 of operating costs,” McIntire said.

“The school district absorbed the additional costs at the end of that year.

“But this year, everything went nuts with oil costs, and it’s going to cost much more.”

As part of an agreement between the city and the district, the municipal swimming pool on the Mountain View Elementary School campus is operated by the city but is owned by the Port Townsend School District.

The city is responsible for the funds to keep the pool running, but any bills from utility companies go directly to the school.

The current agreement has the city paying for up to $72,000 of the pool’s operating costs each year.

McIntire said that amount had been spent by the end of last week, after just eight months of pool operation.