By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Believe it or not, there may be something in Sea Isle City that’s even hotter than the blistering heat this summer – beach tag sales.
As the temperatures have climbed, so has the beach tag revenue.
“The shore has been mobbed. It’s the only place to be with it being so hot,” said Jennifer McIver, Sea Isle’s chief financial officer.
Year after year, beach tag revenue is a closely watched economic indicator of the strength of the vacation season at the shore. The weather is usually the X-factor in beach tag sales. The hotter and nicer the weather, generally the stronger the sales, McIver explained.
“People are flocking to the beaches,” she said of visitors escaping the oppressively hot temperatures inland.
So far this season, Sea Isle has pulled in $1.465 million in beach tag revenue. That figure is just shy of the city’s all-time record of $1.471 million in beach tag sales set in 2015. With seven more weeks to go before Labor Day, Sea Isle will easily set a new record this year.
The beaches have offered a respite from the extreme inland heat.
Another reason why Sea Isle’s beach tag revenue is up so significantly this year is the higher prices The city raised its prices in 2024 for the first time since 2011 by approving a $5 across-the-board increase for seasonal, weekly and daily tags.
Seasonal tags are now $30, weeklies $15 and dailies $10. Sea Isle offered a $5 discount on seasonal tags if they were purchased before May 15.
Sea Isle is also collecting more in parking revenue so far this year, another indication that the summer tourism season has been strong.
Through May and June, the city had a total of $92,040 in parking revenue, compared to $78,955 during the same period last year. Sea Isle normally collects about $260,000 in parking revenue during the entire summer, McIver said.
Another favorable trend that is helping to boost Sea Isle’s parking and beach tag revenue this summer is what appears to be visitors taking longer weekend getaways to the shore, McIver pointed out.
“It seems that people are coming down on Thursdays, so there are four-day weekends,” she said.
Sea Isle City Chief Financial Officer Jennifer McIver holds a handful of beach tags.
Revenue generated by beach tag sales is an important source of funding. It covers the cost of keeping the beaches clean, collecting the trash, employing lifeguards and hiring summer police officers.
The revenue also helps to pay for Sea Isle’s share of beach replenishment projects, including one that was completed in June in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Sea Isle has made it more convenient for beachgoers to buy their tags this summer by introducing a new mobile app. Now, beachgoers can simply use their cellphone to buy digital tags at
mybeachmobile.com using a debit or credit card. The beach tags are stored on their phones.
“We introduced the app, and it has been very successful,” McIver said.
The old-fashioned plastic beach tags may also be bought using the same app, but they have to be picked up at the places where they are available in Sea Isle.
Beachgoers also have the option of paying for plastic beach tags in person with cash or buying them from a beach tag inspector.
In Sea Isle, beach tags are required from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. However, the city continues to generate revenue in the off-season months through the sale of special, holiday-themed beach tags during the Christmas shopping season and then for St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Parking revenue is also up in Sea Isle so far this summer.
