Technique: loaded language and omission of the return received
The original funding split was about $17 million each from the city and the district. The district later added roughly $9 million, which makes the total estimate of about $25 million plausible. But "gifted" leaves out what Jeffco got in return: district students use the facility without fees for the term of the agreement.
Later developments cut in both directions. Under the intergovernmental agreement the board approved in November 2021, the City of Arvada owns the facility and Apex Park & Recreation operates it, with Jeffco Public Schools as its primary tenant — a standing contractual stake, which is not what "gifted" implies. On the other side of the ledger, the Arvada Press reported the project ran about $10 million over budget before the Arvada Aquatics Center opened in November 2024. So the cost-risk warning in Coyne's original 2021 essay was borne out, even though his own figure then was $17 million, not the $25 million his site now uses.