By Donald Wittkowski
As everyone knows, rain is the bane of any good beach day.
Persistent rainy or threatening weather during this summer vacation season would normally seem disastrous for a shore town, but Sea Isle City has been able to post some strong beach tag sales nonetheless in 2018.
“We’re pretty much neck and neck with last year,” said Paula Doll, the city’s chief financial officer.
As of July 22, the city had total beach tag sales of $1,205,960, compared to $1,211,875 through the same period last year, City Business Administrator George Savastano reported.
The negligible decrease in revenue so far this year is actually “pretty darn good” considering the spate of rainy weather that made the early summer, particularly some weekends, rather gloomy, Savastano said.
Patricia Allen, in red shirt, sells beach tags at the Sea Isle City Welcome Center.
Year after year, beach tag sales are a key barometer of the strength of the summer tourism season. In Sea Isle’s case, the all-time record was set in 2015 with $1,471,321 in beach tag revenue, Doll said.
Beach tag sales also broke the $1.4 million barrier in both 2016 and 2017, but fell slightly shy of 2015’s record number.
Although Sea Isle continues to enjoy a strong summer tourism season overall for 2018, the weather is always the X-factor for beach tag sales.
“Certainly, it is very much weather-contingent,” Doll pointed out.
Sea Isle conservatively estimated about $1.2 million in beach tag revenue for 2018 as part of its municipal budget projections. It has already eclipsed that number for the year.
Revenue generated by beach tag sales is an important source of funding for the city. It covers the cost of keeping the beaches clean, collecting the trash, employing lifeguards and hiring summer police officers, Doll explained.
With beach tag revenue absorbing the cost, local taxpayers are saved from having to pay for all of those things, she said.
Beach tag revenue helps the city pay for the cost of lifeguards.
Beach tag revenue also is used to pay off the bonds for the city’s share of beach replenishment projects in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Doll said.
Sea Isle’s tourist-based economy continues to benefit from a $40 million beach replenishment project completed in 2016 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Altogether, nearly 3 million cubic yards of new sand was added to the entire shoreline from First Street to 94th Street in 2015 and 2016.
All that new sand means sunbathers have a lot more room to spread out their blankets, chairs and umbrellas. Sea Isle’s beaches suffered some erosion during a series of storms last March, but otherwise remain in good shape, Savastano said.
Beach tags are required through the Labor Day holiday weekend, giving Sea Isle several more weeks to rake in more revenue.
In 2016, the city launched a mobile app to make it easier for vacationers to buy beach tags. The app lets them use their credit or debit cards instead of having to fumble around for cash in their wallet or purse.
“We do get a little bit from the app,” Doll said of the city’s overall beach tag sales. “Certainly, over time, it will grow because of the convenience aspect of it.”
For more information on downloading the free app, go to: http://www.viplypass.com/sea-isle-city/
