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I wonder if members of the outgoing City Council would have been so willing to spend more than $18 million on a new competitive swim center if it were their own wallets they were reaching for instead of ours.

Thankfully, the incoming council seems less inclined to spend first and ask later.

No sooner had they taken oaths of office last week than the new council members promptly took a closer look at the real costs of the planned facility at the Greensboro Coliseum.

They did that by nixing the previous council's decision to rush additional funding for the project -- which will cost $6.3 million more than the $12 million voters approved in bonds -- as if it would turn into a pumpkin if we didn't break ground before midnight.

The new council is right. This process begs for more facts and thoughtful reflection.

One topic worth exploring is one of the city's most recent and resounding bond success stories. In spite of a frayed economy, the Natural Science Center bonds passed solidly on Nov. 3 with 61 percent of the vote. They will finance major additions and renovations to the facility, including a 26,000-square-foot aquarium, a restaurant and new exhibits.

Like the swim center, the Science Center's upgrades will cost taxpayers a sizable tab: $20 million versus $18.3 million. Unlike the swim center boosters, Science Center staff and supporters stated that plainly and clearly, from day one.

"I really, really felt compelled that we needed to be up front with this," Glenn Dobrogosz, executive director of the Science Center, said last week. "If I'm going to get that money, I want people to know this is what we're going to do and how we're going to do it."

Also, unlike the swim center, the Science Center bonds stood solely on their own merits. Even its proponents concede that the only way swim center bonds could pass, as they did in 2008, was as part of a parks and recreation package.

Twice before that, they had failed on their own.

Both projects involve lofty economic projections. The Science Center commissioned a study by Andrew Brod of UNCG's Center for Business and Economic Research that estimates an annual economic impact of $19 million, once the expansion is completed. The swim center's projected economic impact is estimated at more than $14 million a year, based on figures provided by the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau and Cary-based Sports & Properties Inc.

"We tend to stay on the conservative side," Henri Fourrier, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said of those numbers.

Well, to a point. Those figures assume the complex would be able to attract a certain number of high-profile meets, but for the sake of argument, let's say it would.

The swim center's original expense projections, on the other hand, were nowhere near conservative or realistic, with the lowest construction estimates totaling nearly $20 million.

By contrast, the Science Center accounted, nearly down to the nickel, for projected construction and operating expenses before the bond vote. And its plan for cost overruns is simple.

"If we have a situation where the projects are over budget, we'll just cut them," Dobrogosz said. "Or fund them privately."

More significantly, the Science Center's building and property are city-owned but the lion's share of its funding is private. That's how it has tripled its budget even though its city funding has remained flat for 20 years. It has dozens of corporate champions. To date, the swim center has none.

Fourrier said that's not for lack of asking.

"People don't have a lot of discretionary money now," he said. "But just because it hasn't been raised to this point doesn't mean we won't keep asking."

Trudy Wade, a member of both the previous and current City Councils, remained unimpressed. "If (the swim center) was making money for veterinarians," said Wade, a veterinarian by trade, "we'd pony up and do our part."

To be fair, the swim center obviously lacks the history and cachet of the 53-year-old Science Center.

So it's instructive to look at similar facilities as benchmarks. One is the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, a private complex that earlier this year was struggling to pay off debts and seeking $14 million in relief from the town government.

As for comparisons between the swim center and Science Center, this is not an attempt to pit one worthy project against another.

In fact, the idea of a swim center and expanded science center is both exciting and appealing.

But as the success of the Science Center proves, this is worth doing thoughtfully, carefully and above board.