The debate over New Jersey's beach badge fee accountability

🏖 Many NJ towns collected record beach badge fees
🏖 Where does all that money go?
🏖 A troubling new report finds that it is not easy to find out

Beach badges have long been a source of frustration for New Jersey residents. The cost to access New Jersey beaches has been steadily rising for years.

This was one of the very fist topics I ever talked to you about when I joined New Jersey 101.5 in 1991. We've been talking about it ever since.

I am often asked: "Where does the money from beach fees go?" It turns out, that is not an easy question to answer.

Under state law, towns that charge to access the beach must use whatever revenue is generated from tag sales to pay beach related expenses. That can include things like wages paid to lifeguards, beach maintenance, security and safety costs and even beach replenishment.

The NJ DEP is supposed to verify that towns are spending beach fees on beach related costs. A spokesman says they don't do that. (Getty images/Canva/Townsquare Media illustration)

I can assume that is the case in most towns, but perhaps not all.

A troubling new report from the Asbury Park Press finds it is extremely difficult to ascertain exactly where the money from beach fees is going.

How much money is collected?

With beach fees ranging from $6 to $200 dollars depending on the town and how long the tag is valid, nearly $100 million dollars a year is raised by selling beach tags.

In Monmouth County alone, a record $30 million dollars was collected.

Monitoring how the money is spent is a responsibility of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection under what is known as the Municipal Beach Act.

Assemblywoman Margie Donlon (D-Monmouth) told the Asbury Park Press they are not. "I called the DEP and found out they weren't," Donlon said.

So, despite a law that says beach fees can only be used for beach expenses, no is actually making sure that is the case.

Reporters from the Press tried to get records from towns to see how transparent they were about expenses. Some were better than others.

Some towns, they say, like Long Beach Township, Surf City and Deal dump the revenue from beach fees into their general fund. That makes it impossible to determine exactly what "beach expenses" they are using beach fees to cover.

Donlon has sponsored legislation to create greater accountability among shore towns for how they spend beach fees.

We have always been told that beach badges were necessary to provide the pristine beaches that draw millions of visitors to the Jersey Shore to support a multi-billion dollar tourism industry.

It is for that reason that many grudgingly accept ever increasing beach fees to enjoy the Jersey Shore.

But we also have an inherent, and warranted, distrust of our state and local governments. Maybe it is time to make sure the money really is going where they say it is.