Jersey Shore Town Officials Oppose Beach Fee Elimination Bill

In the midst of recovery from Superstorm Sandy, state Senate President and 3rd District Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney and 23rd District Sen. Michael J. Doherty introduced New Jersey State Senate Bill 2368. The bill, if passed, would require shore municipalities accepting government funds for storm-damaged beach replenishment to provide free beach access and public bathroom facilities.

Photo by Jack Reynolds
Beach crews on LBI and other neighboring
shore towns that need beach replenishment
following Sandy could be a thing of the past
if the beach fee elimination bill is passed.

In response, Surf City Borough Mayor Leonard T. Connors Jr., who incorporated the idea of beach tags on Long Beach Island in Surf City when he first became mayor of the town more than 50 years ago, called the bill “absolutely ridiculous” and said he “unalterably opposed it.” He said he does not expect the area’s taxpayers to pay for the lifeguards, daily beach cleaning, parking issues, extra security personnel and civil suits brought against the local municipalities in connection with beach-related issues that come with accepting visitors on the Island during the summer season. Residents and non-residents alike, he believes, should share those costs.

According to records kept every year by Surf City borough, those expenditures cost the town nearly $20,000 annually. The un-audited revenue generated from beach badge fees in Surf City in 2012 was $563,838, said David Pawlishak, the borough’s chief financial officer. The town’s total expenses for maintaining the beaches that year were $584,129, a loss of $20,291. Those numbers do not include insurance premiums, which Pawlishak said would probably cost the town much less if it were not responsible for such a liability as a public beach.

Connors has sent a letter to the town’s residents, asking them to contact their senators to express their discontent with the proposed legislation.

“The minute the beaches are free, I can guarantee you we will no longer have lifeguards, we will no longer pick up the trash, we will no longer have police protection and so forth, because the taxpayers aren’t going to be able to afford to pay that,” Connors told The SandPaper. “People will be swimming in an unguarded beach, and the (beach crews) are not going to be picking up the trash like they do at dawn every day. The beach sweeper costs many, many thousands of dollars. Who do you think pays for that? The people that use the beach. It’s not anything that benefits the municipality,” he added.

Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini agreed, saying, “We’re totally against the beach badge elimination bill because it’s a user fee. It’s a public safety issue: Beach badge fees pay for our lifeguards.” And, he added, the township can’t entirely absorb those costs because of the mandated tax levy. “We feel the bill is a totally irresponsible move by the senators that proposed it,” he said.

Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove, a former Long Beach Township mayor and lifelong Island resident, said good, clean beaches with free admittance would be available only in a perfect world. She said the Island’s inhabitants are proud of its beaches, which are kept clean and safe because of the revenue generated from the area’s mandatory summer beach badges.

“People complain if there’s garbage or seaweed or jellyfish on the beach, so we try to get things done as quickly as possible so the beach is clean and safe. But that all costs money,” explained Gove. “If you really added up the amount it takes to maintain the beaches all year long, it’s more than the amount that comes in. Some of the people, business owners, don’t even get to use the beaches because they’re trying to make money. We don’t have those revenues of big casinos or a boardwalk to help defray the costs. So, therefore, we ask the people that are using the beaches just to help pay for it. That’s what’s helping our area’s economy. We’re not doing it to keep the people away. We’re trying to get the people to come here by saying, ‘Look how pristine our beaches are.’”

Gove said the state is having enough trouble as it is with the economy, especially after Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc along the shore. She added that Island Beach State Park, which is state-run, also requires beach fees.

On behalf of the shared interests of their corresponding constituent municipalities, representatives of the 9th and 1st legislative district delegations, including Gove, have written to state Senate President Stephen Sweeney to ask that he reevaluate his decision to sponsor legislation S-2368. They also contacted Gov. Christie and asked him to veto the legislation should it make it to his office.

“In accessing the overall damage, it is imperative that we do not lose sight of the fact that those municipalities where beach replenishment projects were more recently completed were able to withstand the hurricane/superstorm better than those municipalities in need of beach replenishment,” the letter noted. “This is a testament to the overall success of the beach replenishment program. Withholding desperately needed replenishment funds clearly sends the wrong message and devalues how important beach replenishment is to protecting our state’s coastline, especially in those counties that stand to lose substantial tax revenue in the coming months and years from damaged and destroyed properties.”

This article was published in The SandPaper.