City Of Long Beach Loses Over $600K On Beach Operations Despite Uptick In Revenue, City Manager Says

LONG BEACH, NY — The City of Long Beach operated its beaches at a $663,000 deficit in the 2026 fiscal year, City Manager Dan Creighton said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

Creighton kicked off the city council meeting with a presentation detailing the city’s beach operation financing over the past few years, noting that beach revenue exceeded $5 million for the first time in 2026. According to the city manager, the city had budgeted for about $4.5 million in beach revenue, a figure the city exceeded by over $500,000 for a total increase of 19 percent.

Despite that increase, Creighton said the beach operations are still a money-loser for the city.

“I know everyone is concerned as to whether the beach makes money or loses money, annually. The short answer is it is still losing money,” Creighton said. “We are losing approximately $600,000 a year — $663,000 a year — it’s about $1.4 million less than we were losing in 2023. There is still a way to go, we understand that, but we are continuing to make changes and trying to look for further inefficiencies. The good news is that we’re trending in the right direction.”

May and June sales — the majority of which are often family passes — for the 2026 fiscal year were relatively stable, while July and August revenues, mostly day passes, increased by 56 percent and 84 percent year-over-year, respectively, Creighton said.

Creighton noted that the current year’s numbers would bear out whether those increases were simply single-year, weather-based jumps or emblematic of a long-term trend coming to Long Beach.

Revenue increased by over $800,000 last year, while expenditures stayed relatively steady with a slight increase to improve supervision and beach pass collection, Creighton said.

In comments made after Creighton’s presentation, City Council President Brendan Finn said part of the reason revenues were up was an increase in vigilance from city staff presiding over beach pass collection.

“I think this is an indicator of the fact that [Creighton] and the workers all decided to be a bit more vigilant in collecting [beach passes],” City Council President Brendan Finn said. “I think we’ve sold a lot more passes, and I think our beach experience is getting better as a result…I think we’re going to keep moving in that direction.”

For Creighton, even with the acknowledgement of a deficit, there were positive trends.

“The main takeaway here is that revenues are up, significantly, and expenditures are down,” Creighton said.