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Overcast Long Beach ups cost of beach passes
Officials say beach park is losing $1 million annually
At a special meeting on Monday, the City Council voted 4-1 to increase the price of beach passes — which went on sale on Tuesday — saying that the hike would generate $1 million more in revenue.
The fee for daily passes for residents remains the same, at $12, but visitors will now have to pay $15 to get onto the beach. The resident seasonal family plan, meanwhile, increased from $60 to $70, and the cost for non-resident families jumped from $120 to $140.
Beach hours have been extended as well on weekends in July and early August: They will remain open, with lifeguards on duty, until 7 p.m. instead of 6. “There have been some safety issues that we have looked at,” City Manager Jack Schnirman said. “… [T]his is something that the chief of lifeguards has recommended, as have a lot of residents.”
The increases were first proposed at the May 3 council meeting, but the measure was tabled after residents and some council members blasted an initial proposal to raise the fee for daily passes to $16 for both residents and visitors and to $80 for resident families, along with other similarly large hikes. Many people said that would be an added burden for residents, many of whom are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, and criticized the city on the same night that officials proposed the 2016-17 budget, which included a property tax increase (story, page 7).
Others, including Councilwoman Eileen Goggin, who voted against the measure on Monday, said that the new fees were excessive, would hurt local businesses and be unfair to working families, and could drive beachgoers to Jones Beach or Rockaway Beach. Goggin had asked that daily fees remain at $12 for residents and visitors, saying that $16 was “astronomical.”
Schnirman said that beach fees had not been raised since 2012, and that the beach park is losing money. “Currently, our beach … is operating at a loss, and continues to do so,” he said.
