"We are not happy at all. It is a very popular summer club. The little bit they save will hit a lot of people."
Mrs Hudson said it seemed ridiculous the council had spent $16,000 on pool covers that were never used and now it was wanting to save $11,000 by reducing the season by eight weeks.
The Mount Hot Pools' regular early morning bathers were also in danger of being evicted for the sake of the council saving $14,000 in pool operating costs. The plan to open the pools at 8am instead of 6am has also struck a sour note with doctors and physios who send patients to the pools to help regain mobility.
Pools regular Kevin Akroyd said hundreds of people enjoyed their early morning dips every week and he could not understand why the council would consider cutting them off to save $270 a week.
"So many people go down there before work because they can't go during the day." Mr Akroyd said one man who lost his wife and was finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning found a new lease of life at the pools. And there were always plenty of swimmers regaining their mobility from hip and knee replacements. "It's the exercise and comradeship ... we are all pretty stirred up."
Chris Butler, from Mount Physio and Pilates, was disappointed the council was considering axing the early start, saying the pools improved healing and got his patients back to work earlier.
Swimming and walking in the pools was used in the early stages of rehabilitation, with some patients preferring the early morning.
The pools were a good way to loosen up and prepare for the day ahead, particularly for people with back pain, he said.
Mount Maunganui GP Dr Tony Farrell said people who worked would have less access to the pools, which were really good for inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.
Councillor Steve Morris said the council had taken on the message from the election and presented a hard budget in which staff had been sent back repeatedly to find more savings.
Although the savings in the Hot Pools seemed small in the context of a $180 million budget, all the little savings added up to a big saving.
He said the more passion that people put into their submissions the better. "Then we will know it is a no-go area."
Mount resident Wayne Mason has two early morning sessions each week at the Hot Pools with aqua resistance instructor Penny Lucas. He said a lot of people used the pools before work and what they got through the gate would offset costs. "I can't see the reasoning at all."
Ms Lucas said the pools were busy up to 8am and a lot of the patrons were older people who were there to keep themselves fit enough to live independently.
Dallas Couvee, the Memorial Pool co-ordinator for flippa ball, the junior version of water polo, said 30 teams played each Tuesday in the last and first school terms but the changes meant they would only be able to run it in the first term.
"It puts at risk flippa ball and the whole programme."
She said that when the kids progressed to water polo at Baywave, the games finished at 8.30pm and the proposed 8pm closing at Baywave meant water polo would have to find somewhere else.
"There is no point going to Baywave for half an hour. It is putting a huge spanner in the works."