'At A Breaking Point': Why Ocean City May Raise Beach Tag Prices

OCEAN CITY, NJ — At a recent meeting, the Ocean City Council moved forward with an ordinance that would increase the prices of beach tags.

It was the first reading for the ordinance, which will undergo a public hearing at the Oct. 20 meeting before a final vote is held.

Seasonal tags purchased before May 31 would cost $30 and $35 after, up from $20 and $25, respectively.

Daily and weekly beach tags would double in price, increasing from $5 to $10, and $10 to $20, respectively.

"We've tried as long as we could to not do this, but we're at a breaking point, and we just can't do it anymore," Councilman Bob Barr said.

"Operating, maintaining and cleaning, and protecting seven miles of beach is a huge, huge cost to Ocean City ever year," Ocean City Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato explained. "At the same time, it's the number one draw to the island."

Donato noted that there were "a lot of increased costs that are coming our way," and said that the city needed to increase revenues to help offset some of the costs.

Beach fees are user fees, Donato said, and tax dollars do not go towards beach maintenance. "The people who use the beach are the people that pay for the beach."

Focusing on beach tags means that taxpayers who do not go to the beach are not burdened with the cost, he said.

The city anticipated $4 million in beach tag revenue this year and came up just shy with $3.933 million, Donato said.

Weekly beach tag prices have not been adjusted since 2007 and dailies not since 2002, he said.

"We tried to maintain those levels for as long as we could," Donato said, but the expenses were starting to exceed the revenues.

"I don't think this is going to affect our beach business," Barr said, but if it did, he added that could make a new ordinance and reduce the prices again.

The Council noted that Ocean City's prices were still "well below" other shore towns or in line with them.

"I'm really ready to move forward with this," Councilwoman Karen Bergman said. "I think it's about time and long overdue."

"I think this is a fair compromise," Councilman Terry Crowley Jr. said.

The ordinance was unanimously introduced by members of the Council.

"Costs are rising across the board, and the new fee structure will help us maintain the safe, clean and accessible beaches that everybody has come to expect from Ocean City," Mayor Jay A. Gillian said in his weekly update posted Oct. 7.