Cape May Considers Raising Beach Tag Fees, Meter Fines

CAPE MAY- City Council is considering increasing weekly beach tags fees to help pay for constructing restrooms next to Convention Hall and parking meter fees to generate additional revenue for the city.
At a Nov. 7 council meeting, City Manager Bruce MacLeod said the city was looking for solution to move portable restrooms placed at the end of Gurney Street and replace those with facilities in the former Oasis Restaurant and a portion of the beach tag office on the Promenade.
MacLeod said he discussed an increase in beach tags fees with Deputy Mayor Jack Wichterman who suggested increasing the weekly tag fee, which covers an eight day period from Saturday to Saturday, from $15 to $20.
In 2012, 28,487 weekly beach tags were sold.
“That $5 increase would yield about $142,000,” said MacLeod.
He said that would allow the city to make a capital improvement of “significant size” and manage the cost with bond anticipation notes. He said a portion of the additional beach tag revenue could be dedicated to retiring the bond anticipation notes in a five to 10 year period.
Cape May’s daily beach tag costs $5, a three-day tag sells for $10 with weekly tags priced at $15. A pre-season tag costs $15 and $25 once the beach season begins, said MacLeod.
He said the city needed to make some type of adjustment in the tag revenue for the purpose of the budget and the increase may also provide the opportunity to open new restroom facilities on the Promenade.
Wichterman said increasing the cost of the eight day tag would not penalize Cape May residents since they mostly use seasonal tags. He said the cost of a three-day tag is $3.33 per day and an eight day tag is only $1.25 per day.
“If we increase it by five bucks, we’re only going up to $2.50 a day which is still a bargain for what they have down here in the City of Cape May where the beaches are beautiful,” said Wichterman.
Council would need to pass an ordinance to raise the weekly beach tag fee.
MacLeod also suggested increasing fines for expired parking meters from $32 to $35.
Of that amount, the city retains $20.50 with the remainder going to the state for programs ranging from spinal research to brain injuries, he said. MacLeod said the city has not raised parking fines since 2005 when the fee was raised from $25 to $32.
He said council would need to pass an ordinance to raise the fee for the 2013 budget. MacLeod said the city issued almost 7,600 parking tickets through September of this year.
“It has ranged from 6,000 to 9,000 in any given year over the last three to five years,” said MacLeod. “The $3 increase will not raise a significant of revenue for the city, approximately $22,000 to $25,000.”