Belmar hopes shoppers will give the gift of sun and sand
By ERIK LARSEN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
Forget Christmas and Hanukkah: Memorial Day weekend is just 164 days
away, and that means 2008 beach badges are now on sale at borough
hall for 2007 prices.
For at least 10 years, the borough has been marketing its beach
badges as the beach lover's ultimate stocking stuffer, a trend a few
other coastal towns have adopted in the years since.
"They make a lovely Christmas present," said Pat Croghan of Wall,
who had come into borough hall on Tuesday to purchase five badges
for herself and her nieces. The cost of the seasonal badges is $50
for regular badges and $15 for senior citizens.
"We are the lowest of any town," Borough Clerk Margaret D. Plummer
said. "And Belmar has one of the busiest beaches."
Plummer, herself a lifelong Belmar resident, buys the badges for
family as stocking stuffers.
"It's very different. It's unique. It beats a candy cane," Plummer
said.
Each year, the borough picks a new color for the badges. The color
for 2008 is burnt orange for the regular badges and white and orange
for senior citizen badges.
Beach badges are big business in Belmar. During the past summer,
Belmar sold 13,049 regular badges for a total revenue of $652,450
and 3,407 senior badges for $51,105.
So far this holiday season, 103 regular beach badges have sold for a
total amount of $5,150, and 25 senior badges have sold for $375.
Under state law, the revenue collected goes into a dedicated beach
utility fee, which is used to maintain and beautify the beaches and
boardwalk.
Plummer, whose great-grandfather was Thomas Dillon, a Belmar mayor
in the 1930s, said the borough was one of the last beach towns to
levy a beach badge fee.
The state Public Advocate's Office said the New Jersey Legislature
first enacted a statute regulating the fees charged by
municipalities in 1955, and that Belmar began charging a beach
admission fee in 1933.
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